Differences Between Laser & Lasik Eye Surgery

Lasik eye surgery is the most common form of corrective eye surgery and a type of laser eye surgery. As of 2008, more than 12 million patients had undergone Lasik in the United States since it was approved in 1995, according to the New York Times. The overall complication rate is low, with numbers ranging from less than 1 percent to 5 percent, depending on the source. The FDA launched a study of those complications in 2008.

Laser Eye Surgery

• Laser eye surgery is any surgery that uses lasers on the eyes. First introduced in the 1950s, corrective laser eye surgery has become cheaper and more common over the years due to the advances in technology and technical know-how by doctors to perform it.

Lasik Eye Surgery

• Lasik surgery is a type of laser eye surgery. It is unique due to how the lasers are used to accomplish the task of fixing the eye. The laser first cuts a thin flap from the eye and shapes the tissues of the eye below it to correct the patient's vision. Finally, the flap is placed back on the eye to help the eye heal more quickly. Lasik is in high demand because it is nearly painless. However, there have been a few rare cases in which Lasik actually damages the eye more.

Other Types of Laser Eye Surgery

• Besides Lasik, other forms of laser eye surgery include Lasek (a procedure where a thin layer of eye tissues is removed, reshaped, and placed back on the eye), PRK (in which a thin layer of eye tissue is removed by a laser completely to let the eye heal) and Refractive Lens Exchange (where a person's natural lens is removed and replaced by a silicon replacement lens).