Two Minute Laser Refractive Surgery to Put Away Eye glasses

One of the most advanced eye correction technologies (LASIK) - which eliminates or reduces dependency on glasses - is now available in Kenya.

The laser refractive surgery (known in USA as LASIK) means that people using glasses to correct eyesight can resort to their naked eyes once again and for life. This is after undertaking a two to five minutes procedure to correct their eye problem be it near or farsightedness or astigmatism - a condition in which the cornea of the eye is asymmetrically curved, causing distorted vision.

According to Dr Mukesh Joshi, the medical director of of Laser Eye Centre at Sarit Centre, which also introduced the technology to Kenya, refractive surgery has worked in 50 countries worldwide, where over two million people have already benefited from it.

“This is a relief for people in Eastern and Central African region, who have always have had to travel to Europe, United States or South Africa for the surgery,” said Dr Mukesh, during the installation of the surgery machine in Nairobi last month.

Dr Mukesh says “People wear eye glasses because their eye lenses and cornea cannot focus the light at the retina of the eye, where the final focus of the rays of the light occur and are then transmitted to the brain. The external lenses in the eyeglasses are therefore used to refract the light from a given focal length, to allow it land at the retina as expected”.