Whether you are a professional athlete, amateur or a weekend warrior, having improved vision will greatly help you to stay at the top of your game. In sports, perfect vision is necessary. One unfortunate fact of life though, is that vision tends to deteriorate as we age. If you’re an athlete and your vision has deteriorated due to one reason or another, you need to consider LASIK eye surgery.

Why Eyeglasses and Contact Lenses are Bad in Sports

In their bid to restore their impaired vision, many people settle for eyeglasses and contacts. Even though these options help to improve vision, they are not the ideal option for athletes. This is because they increase the risk of eye injuries. For example; glasses can slip and slide as an athlete sweats, which can affect crucial training and gameplay. Worst still, glasses can break and cause serious injuries to the eyes. Contacts can also fall out during play. Additionally, dirt, sweat, and other airborne irritants can lodge underneath them, triggering infections, great discomfort, and diminished vision.

Why Laser Eye Surgery is Ideal for Athletes

Eyeglasses and contacts are inconvenient for anyone, more so for athletes who participate in contact sports. The biggest reason why laser eye surgery is ideal for athletes is the fact that the procedure eliminates the need for eyeglasses and contacts. If you undergo laser eye surgery in Dallas, Texas, you will not have to deal with the irritation that is caused when sweat and dirt settle on your contact lenses.

LASIK for athetes

Advantages of LASIK to Athletes

LASIK is a laser eye surgery procedure that eliminates the need for eyeglasses and contacts that are difficult to wear when participating in contact sports. It should be noted that there is some risk if the eye is hit soon after a patient fully recovers from LASIK surgery. The corneal flap could re-open, get infected or become damaged. It’s therefore highly recommended that athletes take some time off their sport and put serious time into their recovery after LASIK surgery.
Once the eye is completely healed, an athlete’s vision can be significantly improved and the risk of eye injury can be greatly minimized. Tiger Woods, LeBron James, and Greg Maddux are some of the top athletes that have experienced the benefits of laser eye surgery.

Advantages of PRK to Athletes

PRK is the 2nd most popular laser eye surgery after LASIK. The procedure is ideal for athletes with mild to moderate visual problems. This eye surgery procedure is performed using an excimer laser to reshape the cornea. Here are some of the advantages that PRK has over LASIK:

  • It’s more effective: The procedure is highly accurate and effective in helping patients achieve 20/20 or at least 20/40 vision without the use of contact lenses or eyeglasses within one year after surgery.
  • No flap complications: Unlike with LASIK, there’s no flap created with PRK. This eliminates the risk of flap complications, making it an ideal option for athletes who are engaged in sports that put them at a high risk of eye injuries, such as martial arts and boxing.
  • Thicker residual corneal stroma after surgery: Another advantage that PRK has over LASIK is that it can be performed safely on thin corneas. Since PRK doesn’t require a flap to be made, the entire thickness of the underlying corneal stroma is retained after the procedure.

SMILE Eye Surgery – Small Incision Lenticule Extraction

This is a procedure that will undoubtedly leave a smile on your face once it’s done. Small Incision Lenticule Extraction, better known as SMILE is the first-ever minimally invasive laser vision correction solution that is currently available. The procedure has successfully redefined refractive laser surgery as we know it today. Our clinic is the only eye clinics that perform this FDA-approved procedure in Dallas, Texas. With it, our clinic has offered an additional laser vision correction option that is only available in a limited number of places.
The SMILE procedure is performed using the VisuMax® femtosecond laser from ZEISS. During the procedure, a small incision of less than 6mm is made inside the cornea in a single treatment step. The incision made is has a 30% smaller cap and 80% smaller side-cap as compared to a LASIK flap.

Benefits of SMILE eye surgery to Athletes

  • Flapless: While the LASIK procedure results in the creation of a side-cut of about 20 mm, use of SMILE results to the creation of a tiny incision that’s less than 4 mm. This not only makes it a micro-incision keyhole procedure, but it also a flapless one.
  • No flap complications: Since no flap is created with SMILE, there’s no chance of the flap shifting, folding or dislocating.
  • Boosts corneal stability: This laser eye surgery procedure leaves the corneal surface almost untouched, leaving the majority of the upper layers of the cornea intact. The procedure also presents fewer disturbances of the corneal nerves. This makes this procedure much better for the long-term stability of the cornea.
  • Eliminates the risk of dry eye: Since this procedure presents fewer disturbances to the corneal surface, the risk of dry eye is eliminated.
  • Highly accurate and dependable: The VisuMax creates a pre-calculated lenticule and incision with utmost accuracy and dependability. This means that SMILE embodies predictability, precision, perfection, and reproducibility.
  • Single-step solution: With SMILE eye surgery, the entire laser eye surgery is carried out in a single step. The creation of the lenticule inside the cornea and the access incision is made in one treatment step.
  • Improved patient experience: Due to its exceptional speed, outstanding cutting precision, and gentle treatment approach, SMILE improves the treatment experience for patients.

PRK and LASIK technologies have improved over the last two and half decades, but SMILE vision correction beats them in terms of accuracy, safety and efficiency considering that it’s the latest generation in the evolution of Laser Vision Correction. This makes it the ideal laser eye surgery for athletes. As with all medical technologies and procedures, advancements and refinements will continue to be made in order to improve the outcomes and safety of laser eye surgery. We have always been firm believers in offering athletes the best techniques and technologies once they have been proven safe to treat their eye problems in Dallas Texas.
Be sure to contact LaserCare Eye Center, one of the best LASIK in Dallas today at 214.328.0444 to schedule your appointment for LASIK.

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