FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions

In order to give you an answer on the safe feasibility of a refractive surgery, it is necessary to proceed with focused tests and exclude potential risks. To go ahead with the pre-operative examination it is necessary to suspend wearing contact lenses at least 15 days earlier.

It is the Femtosecond laser. This laser has great potentialities in the ophthalmic field, because it replaces the mechanical equipment formerly used, increasing the surgery precision and reducing the operation risk.

Usually the operation takes from 5 to 7 minutes per treatment (per eye). The difference in time is caused by the technique performed and by the vision disorder to cure.

Not suitability of the eye to undergo these treatments, eye pathologies and strabismus. Each patient has to follow a pre-operative examination and in most cases it is possible to go ahead with the surgery after an appropriate treatment.

Pre-operative examination is necessary even if the patient’s eyes are in good health: map of the cornea, corneal thickness, etc to guarantee the suitability for the treatment.The international guidelines are detailed and strict, and clearly describe the functional and anatomical parameters that an eye needs to be suitable for the treatment.

In most cases, the operation completely succeeds. Thanks to the latest equipment and to the most advanced expertise, the risks of a partial negative result are extremely low. However it is possible to carry out a second treatment.

Potentially all the vision disorders can be cured. The differences and the potential non-suitability depend on the seriousness of the vision disorder in relation to the structure of the eye that has to be treated.

Modern lasers are equipped with a new technology called eye tracking system, which can follow the eye movements during the operation. This technology optimises the ablation and prevents the treatment from beingnot perfectly centred, cancelling the potential errors due toa bad cooperation of the patient.

No, a local anaesthetic is sufficient: a few drops of an anaesthetic eye-drop.

No, it won’t. The patient will feel just a slight pressure on the eye during the first stage of the treatment, but no pain at all.

The operation can be both unilateralor bilateral. The surgeon decides it case by case to optimise time and results.

This is a problem we noticed in the past. Nowadays the lasers and the technologies have extremely improved and the patients that notice this kind of problem are a very low percentage.

The Femtosecond laser technique allows to go back to your everyday activities even the day after the operation. Driving is possible as well, without wearingglasses or contact lenses. Sports activities are possible too, except for particular sports that involve physical contact (boxing, judo, rugby or other sports that involve violent impacts). It will be possible to go back to these particular sports approximately 2 months after the operation, after the authorization of your ophthalmologist. Swimming must be suspended for approximately 1 month for hygienic reasons.

There is a variety of solutions that doesn’t involve the use of the laser: the main option is the implant of intraocular lenses called phakic, a reversible technique recommended in case of serious myopia that cannot be treated with the laser.

The treatment does not increase in any way the risks for your eyes health. There are international guidelines that specify when and how it is possible to treat an eye without compromising its efficiency and health.

When the opacification of the crystalline lens affects the activities of your everyday life, such as reading, driving, painting, watching TV, etc. Doctors and surgeons no longer think that cataract has to be operated when it is “mature”.

Absolutely not. Just a few drops of an anaesthetic eye-drop are enough to face this operation without feeling any pain.

Nowadays the operation is performedwith ultrasound waves, even though the femtosecond laser is now starting to be used. However it is just complementary to the ultrasound technology.

It depends on the kind of artificial lens that will be implanted. There are monofocal lenses (optimising your sight in the distance), or multifocal lenses (to improve your vision in the distance and near), as well as lenses that correct astigmatism.

No, once the lens has been implanted, it lasts indefinitely and it is not necessary to replace it.

You should wait at least one month before you can prescribe new glasses, in order to let your eyes settle after the operation.

The corneal transplantation is the only option when keratoconus is at the worst stages. At the early stages, or when the visual acuity is not seriously damaged yet, it is possible to proceed with a new laser technique called corneal cross-linking. This treatment consists in the application of a riboflavin solution to the eye which is activated after approximately 30 minutes by illumination, that changes its structure. This change that happens inside the corneal tissue strengthens it, preventing it from further deformations.

The corneal cross-linking’s first goal is to stop keratoconus progression. However we can observe in many people a decrease and regularisationof the astigmatism.

Generally astigmatism decrease is not adequate to eliminate the use of glasses, anyway it is possible to cure this disorder with corneal lenses. In effect these lenses are better tolerated after corneal cross-linking.

In the case of this procedure, using the femtosecond laser, the post-operativephase is completely painless.
In the case of the traditional procedure, where the corneal epithelium is removed before the application of the riboflavin solution, the surgery is painless. In the following 2 or 3 days, your eye may feel a bit uncomfortable and sensitive to the light, because of the healing period of the corneal epithelium.

The results of the corneal cross-linking treatment are not immediate, but they start to appear 2 or 3 months afterthe operation.

Absolutely not. Your condition would be unchanged or just slightly improved.

Yes, it is. Without any problem.

No, there are no side-effects. It is possible to carry out corneal transplantation even if the eye has been previously treated with corneal cross-linking, without any further risk.

Absolutely not. The operation is performed outside the eye and it does not endanger its efficiency.

If corrective measures are necessary before the operation, they will be necessary after the surgery as well. The operation does not condition in any way the dioptre of the vision disorder.

No, it is a surgical operation performed with the traditional technique.

Generally you will need three or four days of rest. However, this period varies a lot from person to person, depending on the seriousness of the operation and on the personal reactivity.

Usually it is necessary to plan several operations to correct the misalignment of the eyes, therefore it is always possible to undergo several surgeries.