Intacs Side Effects

Vision problems are fairly common. Correction for such eye problems used to be limited to glasses or contact lenses. However, in the age of modern technology, these are not the only options available anymore to those who have less-than-perfect vision. Modern medicine has made certain types of procedures possible for specific problems to repair vision without the need for glasses ever again. One of these procedures is known as Intacs.

• Vision problems

Intacs

• Intacs are small rings that are inserted into the eye. They are used to repair the vision problems of nearsighted individuals. People who are nearsighted have no trouble seeing things right in front of them, but due to the abnormal development of the eye, the condition keeps them from seeing things clearly that are far away.

Usage

• Intacs are small pieces of special plastic that are inserted into the eye. Once placed inside of the eye, Intacs aid in eliminating nearsightedness by rounding out the natural shape of the eye in order for the retina to receive the image in the correct way.

Insertion

• The surgery to place Intacs into the eye is relatively simple and only takes about 15 to 30 minutes to complete. The patient is most often given an oral sedative in addition to eye drops that are placed within the eye to numb it. After the numbing process has been completed, the eye surgeon will make tiny incisions in the eye itself, creating two tunnels around the cornea. The Intac rings are then inserted into these tunnel-like openings and they flatten the cornea so that light will enter the retina in a normal fashion. The procedure is reported to be relatively pain free and recovery time is fairly quick without any major complications in most cases.

Risks & Side Effects

• The most common side effect reported by most people is the sensation of the ring in their eye. However, this side effect usually dissipates shortly after the surgical procedure at the beginning of recovery. The brain becomes accustomed to the foreign object sensation and begins to ignore the sensation.

  As with any surgical procedure, there is always risk of infection. Any infections can usually be treated with medication without having any effect on the surgery results.

  Other rare complications can also occur. These include conditions such as overcorrection, reduction in central cornea sensation, night vision difficulty, undercorrection, induced astigmatism, blurry vision and double vision. Additional risks include corneal blood vessel damage, halos, glare, fluctuating distance vision and a reduction of two ore lines of best corrected vision.

  The important thing to remember concerning the risks and side effects of this surgery is that they are all generally correctable. Intacs are designed so that they can be removed if new technology is developed that can fix eye issues better. Therefore, Intacs can also be removed if the patient is suffering from any of the risks and or side effects.

Prognosis

• Normally after the patient has had Intacs placed, they are no longer dependent on contacts or eyeglasses to correct their vision. In studies done in the United States, most people's vision improved significantly. For example, 97 percent of patients experienced their vision increasing to at least a 20/40. Seventy-four percent of Intac patients saw their level of vision increase to perfect vision, or 20/20. Fifty-three percent of patients improved their vision above and beyond perfect vision to a 20/16 or better.