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Radial keratotomy (RK) is a refractive surgical procedure employed to correct myopia or nearsightedness. Radial Keratotomy came into existence by accident rather than through meticulous research. The procedure was discovered by Dr. Svyatoslav Fyodorov when he operated one of his patients who had met with a bicycle accident. The boy wore eyeglasses, which broke on impact, and the glass splinters lodged into his eyes. The doctor had to make several radial incisions in the corneal tissue in order to extract the glass. When the cornea healed, the doctor found that the boy’s eyesight was significantly improved.

In radial keratotomy (RK), a series of micro-fine incisions are made in the outer portion of the cornea with the aid of a high-precision calibrated diamond knife. The surgeon administers a local anesthetic, since the incisions are superficial and the procedure is fairly painless. The corneal thickness of the patient’s eye is measured prior to the surgery. Before the incisions are made, the diamond-edged cutting instrument is precisely set under the operating microscope. Thus by flattening the curvature of the cornea in such a manner, RK can easily correct myopia or nearsightedness.
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LASIK, an acronym for Laser-assisted In Situ Keratomileusis, is a form of refractive laser eye surgery procedure performed by ophthalmologists intended for correcting vision. The procedure is usually a preferred alternative to photorefractive keratectomy, PRK, as it requires less time for full recovery, and the patient experiences less pain overall.

The LASIK technique was made possible by Dr Jose Barraquer (Colombia), who around 1960 developed the first microkeratome, used to cut thin flaps in the cornea and alter its shape, in a procedure called keratomileusis. This procedure was developed and pioneered by the world leading Barraquer Clinic, based in Bogota, Colombia.

LASIK surgery was developed in 1990 by Dr. Lucio Buratto (Italy) and Dr. Ioannis Pallikaris (Greece) as a melding of two prior techniques, keratomileusis and photorefractive keratectomy. It quickly became popular because of its greater precision and lower frequency of complications in comparison with these former two techniques.

In 1991, LASIK was performed for the first time in the United States by Drs. Stephen Brint and Stephen Slade. The same year, Drs. Thomas and Tobias Neuhann successfully treated the first German LASIK patients with an automated microkeratome.

Patients wearing soft contact lenses typically are instructed to stop wearing them approximately 7 to 10 days before surgery. One industry body recommends that patients wearing hard contact lenses should stop wearing them for a minimum of six weeks plus another six weeks for every three years the hard contacts had been worn.
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