What do you need to know?
- Laserowa korekcja wzroku to szybki zabieg trwający kilkanaście minut, który nie wymaga znieczulenia ogólnego (narkozy).
- Narcosis carries a greater risk and burden on the body and is therefore inadvisable for vision correction.
- The procedure is performed under local anaesthesia with eye drops to protect against pain.
- The patient must cooperate, so the presence of consciousness is important for the procedure to proceed properly.
- In case of severe anxiety, mild sedatives can be used after consultation with a doctor.
- Laser correction allows a quick return to daily activities and does not require hospitalisation.
Many people inevitably associate surgery with anaesthesia, or general anaesthesia. What's more, the prospect of being awake and conscious during a surgical procedure can cause anxiety and additional stress for some. Perhaps this is why one of the more common questions related to laser vision correction is: can this procedure be carried out under anaesthesia?
Narcosis during laser vision correction?
The answer is concise and simple: no. LASIK is a short procedure, lasting about a dozen minutes, and the use of general anaesthesia is not only unnecessary in this case, but even inadvisable. Why? First of all, because anaesthesia in itself is already a considerable burden on the body and carries much more risk than the procedure itself. It can sometimes cause such side effects as nausea, vomiting, headaches, general weakness and many others. In addition, putting the patient to sleep and then waking him or her up would mean unnecessarily prolonging the procedure and increasing its cost.
Dodatkowym argumentem przeciwko stosowaniu narkozy podczas laser vision correction jest fakt, że pacjent musi w pewnym stopniu współpracować z lekarzem: podczas modelowania rogówki wiązką promieni wzrok pacjenta powinien podążać za światłem lasera.
Narcosis - laser vision correction
Although the vision of a „live” operation can be somewhat frightening, there is no need to worry. This is because instead of anaesthesia, we administer local anaesthesia in the form of eye drops, which effectively protect the patient from pain. As a result, only the touch of the eye is felt during the procedure - it may be a strange sensation (even for people who, for example, have worn lenses before and are not afraid of touching the open eye), but it is neither painful nor unpleasant.
Those experiencing particularly high levels of anxiety that could hinder the proper course of laser vision correction can take a mild sedative - but remember to consult your doctor first.
Laser vision correction - which anaesthetic?
- Local anaesthesia in the form of eye drops is painless in itself and ensures that the patient feels no pain during or immediately after the procedure.
- It poses no risk to the whole body, unlike anaesthesia, which can sometimes have adverse effects on the heart or respiratory system.
- It shortens the duration of the entire procedure - so laser vision correction does not require hospitalisation and is less costly (which is also no small matter given that LASIK is not reimbursed by the National Health Fund).
- It makes it possible to return to daily activities the same day the procedure was performed.
