Alternatives to laser surgery for your eyes

It’s taken us a long time to get to this point — around a thousand years to be more exact. Even longer if you count the early work of Greek scholars like Euclid and Aristotle.

Back then if you were afflicted by poor eyesight, you didn’t have much choice other than to deal with it. But it wasn’t all bad; you may even have been thought of as blessed and sought after for certain crafts like specialist coin engraving.

In 2017, if you’ve got a problem with your vision, it’s not going to help you get a job, but you don’t have to look far for a treatment that claims it’ll fix it — or at least improve it by some measure. Browse the net or head down the high street and you’re bombarded with options: single vision lenses, bifocals, varifocals, contacts, intraocular lenses, LASIK. The big dilemma we have today is not a lack of treatment options, but rather separating the wheat from the chaff and choosing which are actually any good.

Alternative treatments for myopia (short-sightedness)

Expert laser eye surgeon Mr Glenn Carp discusses alternative treatment options for myopia.

Short-sightedness or myopia is one of the most common and easily treated refractive errors. In a myopic eye, its shape is slightly rounder and longer than it should be. This causes light to focus on a point in front of the retina and make objects at a distance appear blurry.

As Mr Glenn Carp states, other than glasses or contacts, the main alternative to treating myopia is internal or intraocular lenses. These are artificial lenses that are either clipped to the iris or positioned between the iris and the lens. Many people with severe myopia prescriptions — above -12.50 dioptres — are told this is their only option. However, today there is a specially developed laser surgery technique to treat patients with such high myopic prescriptions.

Alternative treatments for hyperopia (long-sightedness)

Mr Glenn Carp discusses alternative treatment options for hyperopia.

In hyperopia, the eye is shorter and flatter than it should be. This causes light to focus behind rather than directly on the retina, distorting objects in near-field vision.

Similarly to myopia, an alternative to treating hyperopia other than Laser Eye Surgery is to insert intraocular lenses into the eye. Due to the costs and risks of this procedure, most people rely on the temporary solutions of contacts or glasses to counteract its effects. For permanent correction, the treatment options are artificial lenses or Laser Eye Surgery.

Alternative treatments for presbyopia

Mr Glenn Carp discusses alternative treatment options for presbyopia. 

Presbyopia is an age-related eye condition that affects everyone, usually setting in around our early or mid-40s. As the muscles in the eyes gradually stiffen and lose the elasticity, our near vision deteriorates, and we experience problems like eyestrain and headaches.

Since 2011, PRESBYOND® Laser Blended Vision has been the gold standard of presbyopia treatment. It was specially developed to offer an alternative to problematic options like contact lenses and multifocals. As Mr Glenn Carp states in the video above, the problem with multifocality is that although they improve depth of vision, they tend to reduce the quality in the process. As for contact lenses, not only are they one of the riskiest options of all (if not the riskiest), but their delicate and flimsy nature makes them the most inconvenient too.

Let us know your prescription below and we’ll tell you your treatment options. Alternatively, book a consultation by contacting one of our Patient Care Coordinators.