”There's
a Lot of social stigma attached to lenses and glasses. Plus getting into college,
without lenses, was something i looked forward to," says Wadhwa. '"Worrying
about staying over at a friend's place and carrying the lens solution is no longer
a hassle." The third year commerce student at HR College.
Churchgate, who once had an eye power of minus 4 now has 20/20 Vision Wadhwa convinced
his father, a gynaecologist, that now was the right time to have the Rs 30,000
laser guided corrective surgery known as LASIK or Laser Assisted in-situ Keratomileusis. According
to opthalmic surgeons, the average age of people undergoing refractive surgeries
is 35. In fact, says Dr Sanjiv Shah, an opthalmic surgeon in Tardco, "about
50 percent of my LASIK clientele is in their mid-20s." The
surgery takes an average of. 20 minutes, requires no stitches and allows the patient
to return to the classroom or office in a day or two.
LASIK involves reshaping
the cornea the external surface of the eye to correct near sightedness, farsightedness
and astigmatism (an eye disorder in which the lens is severely curved). One
of the latest advances in LASIK treatments is the WaveLight Allegretto laser platform,
which can "correct even internal errors of the eye such as night vision,
glare, besides correcting numbered vision," says ophthalmic surgeon Dr Anand
Shroff of Shroff Eye Hospital in Bandra. The device has
one of the fastest eye trackers, which ensures accurate and safe treatments. The
customised treatment, with a 3-D map of each eye is completed in a few seconds
to prevent uneven drying of the corneal surface. Globally
the WaveLight Allegretto was introduced in 2002; it was used in India for the
first time a year later.
According lo experts, the city's young adults are
also getting LASIK done to improve their marriage and career prospects. "We
often get harrowed parents asking us to treat their daughters' vision far a better
marital match," says Daryus Panthakey director of Phiroze Dastoor Laser Eye
Clinic in Santacruz. which performed one of the first laser vision correction
surgeries in India in 1994. LASIK treatment is, for many
others, a smart career strategy. Twenty-year-old Priti Shirke
(name changed) of Tardeo knew her minus 3 vision would make it impossible for
her to clear the physical tests necessary to join the police force. So she convinced
her parents her father is a steel worker and her mother is a wholesale vegetable
seller it was worth investing Rs 30,000 on laser vision correction. "Treating
my number was important: I couldn't ruin my chances of a dream career," chirps
Shirke. Shirke's surgery was done discreitly. She cleared
the tests and is currently training in Nashik. City doctors
say the Rs l5,000-Rs 25,000 cost of LASIK for each eye is a third of the price
abroad, but admit that it deters many patients. "For
the Indian market price is a major deciding factor. The quality of technology
and surgeon is still secondary," says Shah, ruefully. The
actual Laser treatment takes five to seven minutes:
The patient rests on a
motorized bed, the head is motioned under the laser and anesthetic drops are applied
in the eye.
A 3-D map called a ‘Wavefront map’ is formed to identify
various higher order optical errors of the eye such that the surgeon can accurately
focus the laser on these marked spots. A soft finger-sized
instrument or a lid retractor holds the eyelids open to give the surgeon clear
access to the treatment area with minimal discomfort to the patient. A
precision instrument similar to a bottle opener called the 'Microkeratome' makes
surgical corneal flap resection from each eye, exposing the inner layers of the
cornea where the laser is applied. While the patient Steadily
stares at a blinking light during the procedure, the computerized laser shoots
a beam of light to reshape the cornea this changes its curvature to the desired
extent and corrects patient’s vision.
The resultant corneal curvature
makes light entering the eye focus sharply on the retina without the need for
corrective lenses. | 
