LASIK or Lasik (laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis) is a type of refractive surgery for correcting myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism. LASIK is performed by ophthalmologists using a laser. The procedure is generally preferred to photorefractive keratectomy, PRK, also called ASA, Advanced Surface Ablation because it requires less time for the patient's recovery, and the patient feels less pain overall. However, there are instances where a PRK/ASA procedure is medically justified as being a better alternative to LASIK.
The LASIK technique was made possible by the Colombia-based Spanish ophthalmologist Jose Barraquer, who, around 1950 in his clinic in Bogotá, Colombia, developed the first microkeratome, and developed the technique used to cut thin flaps in the cornea and alter its shape, in a procedure he called keratomileusis. Barraquer also researched the question of how much of the cornea had to be left unaltered to provide stable long-term results.
Later technical and procedural developments included RK , developed in Russia in the 1970s by Svyatoslav Fyodorov, and PRK , developed in 1983 at Columbia University by Dr. Steven Trokel, who in addition published an article in the American Journal of Ophthalmology in 1983 outlining the potential benefits of using the Excimer laser in refractive surgeries. RK is a procedure in which radial corneal cuts are made, typically using a micrometer diamond knife, and is completely different from LASIK.
In 1968 at the Northrop Corporation Research and Technology Center of the University of California, Mani Lal Bhaumik and a group of scientists were working on the development of a carbon-dioxide laser. Their work evolved into what would become the Excimer laser. This type of laser would become the cornerstone for refractive eye surgery. Dr. Bhaumik announced his team's breakthrough in May 1973 at a meeting of the Denver Optical Society of America in Denver, Colorado. He would later patent his discovery.
