Dishler Laser - Blog

Many patients have asked a relatively simple question, "why was LASIK invented at all?" A decade ago very few people even knew the word LASIK, and while the word had become a part of our lexicon, the real reason that doctors choose to do LASIK escapes many peoples understanding. We were one of the first handful of doctors in the United States to perform LASIK vision correction, and the first to realize the potential benefits of LASIK for vision correction in Colorado almost fifteen years ago. Since that time there are now over 10,000 LASIK doctors in the USA alone and a multiple of this number worldwide. The reasons for the success of LASIK are numerous but in a sentence it provides rapid, accurate, and relatively painless restoration of vision to a wide range of refractive errors. Patients are able to see like they were wearing contact lenses without all of the bother, cost, inconvenience, and risks of contacts. In general they have better visual function than provided with glasses in the same way that contact lenses are better than glasses for so many reasons.

As important as factors related to your doctor are, laser vision correction is not just about the technology that is used, and not just about the empirical results that are obtained. The first and most important step in pursuing laser vision correction or LASIK is to pick both the doctor and the technology which will hopefully deliver for you the best results. Beyond these basics the most important consideration is known as patient expectations. The patient's perception of success is a key indicator since what goes on behind the eyes, that is in the brain of the person who has LASIK, is just as important as the objective results themselves. While most patients are extremely happy with their excellent results, it is important to understand that LASIK is a process, and one needs to look at the most important optical diagnostic instrument available, their own mirror. The bottom line is whether one is the type of person who is happy with substantial improvement in their quality of life or will only perfection be their minimum standard of success?