Astigmatism can be a damaging eye disease where there is refractive error in the eye. This disease can cause the eyes to be blurred and so the vision is decreased or lost depending on the severity of the disease. The cornea that is the surface of the eye can have a irregular surface instead of the smooth surface that it is supposed to have and this is the major reason for the refractive error to occur in the eye. This irregular surface causes the image to form away from the retina and this can lead to decreased and blurred vision.

A person who is affected with the refractive error in the eye will have a lot of difficulty to view various things. The surface of the eye or the cornea needs to be made smooth again for the vision to become normal again. This is not a simple procedure that can be cured by medications, but it needs surgery to correct the procedure. There are different kinds of surgeries that are available for the treatment of this refractive error, but the commonest ones are listed here and all of them are LASER surgeries.

LASER or Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation is the use of a high beam of light to correct various problems of the eye. The surgical treatments for astigmatism of the eye are as follows:

1. LASIK:

In this surgical procedure, the first step in correcting the eye problem is to use a precision incision with a blade called as microkeratome. This blade causes an incision or opening in the eye surface and the laser is used to correct the damage to the surface of the cornea. When the Laser is applied to the eye surface, it causes the irregularities of the cornea to be smoothened out and this corrects the refractive error of the eye. The only disadvantage of this surgery is that the epithelial layer of the eye is damaged in this kind of surgery.

2. LASEK surgery:

The LASEK surgery on the other hand, is a kind of surgery that is very similar to the LASIK surgery, but the difference is that the outer or the epithelial layer of the eye is spared in this surgery. The Laser is used to directly reshape the eye surface and restore normal vision of the person.

3. Photorefractive keratectomy:

Another important surgery that is also done commonly for those who are unable to pay for the surgery in developing nations is the photorefractive keratectomy. This is a simple surgery where the surface of the eye is exposed by removing the epithelial layer and then the correction of the corneal surface is done with the Laser. This is a simple procedure, but since the epithelial layer is removed, the healing of the eye takes a longer time after the surgery is completed. This is a major disadvantage and this is also the reason for this surgery not being performed commonly for those who are able to afford the treatment.

These are the major kinds of surgeries that are performed for the person who is having refractive error or astigmatism.

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