Categories: Ophthalmology

How has refractive surgery evolved over the years?

Throughout history ophthalmology has always had the interest for centuries to improve the quality of life of our patients trying to improve our vision. In fact, the beginnings of refractive surgery began with attempts to flatten the cornea to correct the most common refractive defect: myopia.

Over the years, refractive surgery has seen a spectacular evolution, improving the final results in the patient's vision and reducing risks and, therefore, increasing the safety of operations.

All this has achieved that the postoperative period has also evolved and improved significantly, thus shortening its duration and especially increasing comfort. Some of the surgeries that have been improved over time are cataract surgery that has undergone a breakthrough, glaucoma surgery and also retinal detachment surgery, among others, which have always had the same goal, to improve The quality of people's vision.

In these last decades one of our main objectives in ophthalmology through refractive surgery was to improve the quality of life of our patients by removing their dependence on glasses and the continued use of contact lenses. To this end, an enormous surgical strategy of high safety has been developed, such as intraocular surgery and corneal surgery.

Within these two areas of refractive surgery we can differentiate between laser surgery that acts directly on the cornea by carving it and surgery where intraocular lenses are implanted that is intended for those patients who cannot undergo laser surgery.

There are modern techniques of Lasik, Femtolasik and Femtolasik Xtra to win a game of farsightedness, myopia and astigmatism. Even today through corneal laser techniques such as Presbylasik in its different modalities in advanced monovision we have the possibility of improving the quality of life of our patients. In this way we reduce the dependence on glasses and contact lenses that patients have.