What Anesthesia Is Used For Laser Eye Surgery

The anesthesia does not require strict medical fitness as is required in general anesthesia.

What anesthesia is used for laser eye surgery.

There may be some measure of pressure as your surgeon proceeds with the surgical procedure and you may become acutely aware of the sounds in the. It is used to photocoagulate vascular and pigmented retinal lesions. Since the eye is heavily supplied by nerves anesthesia is essential. Topical anesthesia using lidocaine topical gel is often used for quick procedures.

This is the strongest type of anesthesia and is most commonly used for surgeries that would otherwise be unbearably painful such as knee replacements and heart surgeries. Moreover topical anesthesia may be used in cataract surgery and consists of numbing eye drops to the surface of the eye. Learn more since cataract surgery is an outpatient procedure lasting only about an hour or less you will remain awake and receive local anesthesia in the form of eye drops or a needle based block most of the time. Lasik which stands for laser in situ keratomileusis is a popular surgery to correct vision in people who are nearsighted or farsighted or who have astigmatism.

If you require retina surgery. You will also be monitored in this recovery phase. This is not recommended for retinal surgery general anesthesia. However drops alone do not provide sufficient patient comfort to be used during most other kinds of eye surgery.

For cataract surgery anesthesia is the medication used to numb the eye so you don t feel it during the procedure. Learn more about the lasik eye. By the way most adult eye surgery including cataracts are performed in similar fashion. Here is a brief account of all types of anesthesia used for cataract surgery.

There are a few centers that use only topical numbing medication for the cataract surgery. When the surgery is done other medications are used to reverse the effect of the anesthesia. I operate almost exclusively at woodburn surgical center at inova fairfax hospital. The anesthetizing eye drops are very similar to the numbing gels that your dentist will use on your gums prior to the start of a dental procedure.

Hence local or general anesthesia is used most commonly for eye muscle surgery. The ruby laser can easily penetrate the anterior structures of the eye. Use of this laser has decreased with the availability of newer types and the ruby laser is not commonly used for laser airway surgery. Local anesthesia for cataract surgery.

Absolutely no pain is felt during the lasik surgery. Since topical anesthesia requires cooperation from the patient general anesthesia is often used for children traumatic eye injuries or major orbitotomies and for apprehensive patients. Vitrectomy removal of erm repair of macular hole retinal detachment repair etc there are several choices of anesthesia for your eye surgery. Surgery is performed on an outpatient basis and go home soon after surgery is completed.