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History of LASIK

Serving Longmont, Lafayette and the Northern Colorado region

LASIK surgery in Longmont and Lafayette, COSince 1949, Dr. Jose Barraquer of Bogota, Columbia had been working on a procedure to reshape the cornea by removing an outer layer of the cornea, reshaping it, and replacing it onto the eye. In the late 1980's Dr. Luis Ruiz, also of Bogota, refined the corneal shaping technique by introducing the Automated Corneal Shaper. As a result, the microkeratome was developed to shave a thin flap from the front surface of the cornea. This is called Lamellar surgery because the cornea, similar to a piece of plywood, is composed of many layers while this flap of tissue is composed of only a few layers of the anterior cornea.

In 1991 the Microkeratome was combined with the Excimer laser and the current technique of LASIK was developed allowing surgeons to shape the cornea using a laser. In LASIK, the microkeratome is used to form a thin flap of corneal tissue. The Excimer laser is then used to gently sculpt the cornea, removing a very precise amount of tissue from the cornea underneath this flap, and the flap is carefully replaced back into position without sutures.

By removing a variable amount of tissue from your cornea, this causes the overlying flap to drape down into the space flattened by the laser. This central area of cornea, which is removed with the laser, varies in thickness depending on the patients' amount of correction.

For astigmatism, since the curvature of the cornea is steeper in one part of the cornea and flatter in another, like a football, the laser also can treat the steeper areas of the cornea more than the flatter areas effectively reshaping the cornea into a more rounded or spherical shape.

At the Laser Refractive Surgery Center, we are proud to be one of the few centers in the state to offer Custom LASIK to Northern Colorado residents including Longmont, Lafayette, Boulder, Denver, Fort Collins, and Greeley.

Email or call us today at 303-682-3396 for a free vision correction consultation.