For thousands of mid-Michigan eyeglass and contact wearers, being able to wake up, throw back the covers and actually see the clock radio in the morning without squinting or blinking is enough reason to undergo laser vision correction. For others, the benefits from surgery could even determine which career field they pursue.

Laser vision correction, which reduces or eliminates the need for eyeglasses or contact lenses, is popular for busy people who don’t want to be slowed down or inconvenienced with eyewear.

There are several laser vision correction procedures available, including LASIK, which is an acronym for Laser-Assisted-In-Situ Keratomileusis, and PRK (Photorefractive Keratectomy). LASIK is currently the most popular form of laser vision correction, local experts say.

“LASIK has become a household term for many…really a lifestyle issue for many people and a necessity for some, like athletes,” said Marcus Rhem, MD, surgeon at the TLC Laser Eye Center in Lansing. “It’s particularly satisfying to help a policeman or firefighter see better.”

LASIK uses a cool beam of light from the excimer laser to reshape the front surface of the cornea to improve eyesight. It is effective for most low, moderate and higher prescriptions. A patient’s vision is typically restored close to 20/20, or to the same level of vision a patient’s prescription allowed.

“We cut a protective flap on the eye, which gives us access to the structural layers of the cornea. We use the excimer laser to change the shape of the eye to actually refocus the cornea. Pulses of laser light are applied to the inner corneal layers. Then the flap is replaced to allow for natural healing to occur,” explained Dr. Rhem.

The outpatient surgery offers a quick recovery time–typically vision is returned to normal within 24 hours–with only a slight eye irritation for patients the first several hours. In most cases after undergoing LASIK, a person’s vision is not expected to change the remainder of their lives, noted Dr. Rhem. Approximately four percent of LASIK patients will require enhancement surgery.

TLC, a national center with over 70 centers nationwide, including offices in Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, Big Rapids and Detroit, offers both conventional LASIK and Custom LASIK, which allows the surgeon to better customize the vision correction. TLC employs 23 people at its Lansing office.

Custom LASIK uses a wavefront analyzer to measure the way light travels through the eye and create a customized 3-D map of the eye, which gives the surgeon information about the unique characteristics of a patient’s eye. Approximately 80 percent of TLC’s LASIK procedures are customized, Dr. Rhem said.

Conventional LASIK uses the same laser pattern for everyone based on a patient’s prescription. PRK laser surgery has been performed since 1986 and involves removing the protective surface layer from the cornea. The covering is regenerated within three to five days.

Dr. Rhem, a surgical ophthalmologist, also treats patients for cataracts, glaucoma and other diabetes-related ailments. However, patients with those complications do not make good candidates for LASIK.

“You really need healthy eyes to begin with. It is important to undergo a thorough eye exam, which could detect some unnatural curvature to the eye. Many patients are in their 20s and 30s when they come to see us, so their overall health is generally good,” said Dr. Rhem.

The majority of insurance plans still do not cover the cost of laser vision correction, which can run up to $1,900 per eye for Custom LASIK at TLC. Dr. Rhem said he doesn’t expect that to change much in the near future. TLC offers a variety of payment and financing options.

“LASIK has been around for about 10 years and we haven’t seen much of a move toward insurance coverage. The technology is becoming faster and more precise and improving the accuracy of the procedure, so it could eventually change, but not quickly,” said Dr. Rhem.

Dr. Frank Rosenbaum, MD, CEO and founder of Rosenbaum Eye & Laser Center in Lansing, has performed over 13,000 LASIK procedures since the mid-1990s. The business recently celebrated its 25^th anniversary in Lansing. The practice also includes a satellite office in Owosso.

Rosenbaum Eye & Laser Center, which has 20 employees, offers a variety of laser vision correction procedures, including Standard and Custom LASIK, and blade-free LASIK. The IntraLase FS laser is a highly precise tool aiding in corneal flap creation. During the procedure, the IntraLase laser fires 15,000 pulses per second into the cornea, where the flap can be created at a depth and diameter determined by the surgeon as appropriate for each individual patient.

“It adds more precision in the surgeon’s hands,” said Diane Wilson, director of Refractive Services for Rosenbaum Eye & Laser Center, who added that custom IntraLase costs approximately $2,150 per eye.

Beware anyone that offers a suspiciously low price, she cautioned. “The cost of a laser is in the half-million dollar range, and we have two excimer lasers and one IntraLase laser, plus a lot of expensive diagnostic gear.”

Side effects are rare, Wilson said, but can include night glare and halos. Infection is also a possibility.

“We have our own sterile surgical suite with the latest ocular technology. Serious side effects are very rare,” Wilson said.

New at Rosenbaum for non-LASIK candidates is Visian ICL, or implantable contact lenses. Phakic Intraocular Lens (IOL) implantation is a surgical option for treating high refractive errors. The surgically implanted contact lens grew from cataract surgery, which replaces a cloudy cornea with an artificial lens.

Wilson expects the next big breakthrough in laser vision correction to be finding help for people with presbyopia, a condition that requires people to use reading glasses and typically affects them in their 40s and 50s. Presbyopia, a hardening of the eye lens, is an inevitable adjunct to aging that makes focusing on close objects more difficult.

“Right now there is no refractive surgical procedure that can correct presbyopia. However, I would expect they are working on perfecting the technology right now,” Wilson said.