Eyeglasses can be considered a necessity for most myopic patients. However, wearing frame glasses causes sore nose, stinging eyes, inconvenient movement, and over time can also cause sunken eyes and destroy the shape of the face, seriously affecting aesthetics; and due to improper wearing of contact lenses and long-term wearing of contact lenses after the stimulation of the cornea, may cause corneal edge neovascularization, keratitis, follicular conjunctivitis and other diseases. What can be done to help myopic patients to remove their glasses and see our beautiful world clearly? Excimer laser surgery is a better option, and its high safety, effectiveness, and comfort have been rapidly implemented worldwide. What is excimer laser surgery? Excimer laser is an ultraviolet light with a wavelength of 193 nanometers. It breaks the corneal collagen connections through a photochemical reaction when it comes in contact with the corneal tissue, and each laser pulse can precisely cut 0.25 microns to precisely modify the anterior surface of the cornea and change the curvature of the cornea to correct myopia and astigmatism. The vast majority of patients can achieve the corrected vision of their pre-treatment glasses after this procedure, and the results can last a lifetime. Are you a candidate for excimer laser surgery? If your myopia has not changed in the last few years and you are older than 18 years old (most people’s refractive error changes by the age of 18), and you do not have diabetes, cataracts, herpetic keratitis, keloid, or immune system, you are a candidate for excimer laser treatment. You will also need to undergo a preoperative examination (if you currently wear contact lenses, you will need to stop wearing them for 2 weeks), including pre and post dilated refraction, intraocular pressure, corneal topography, corneal thickness, axial length, anterior segment of the eye, and fundus examination. All of these results are normal before excimer laser surgery can be performed. What type of excimer laser surgery is right for you? There are three main types of excimer laser surgery: PRK, LASIK and LASEK. You can ask your doctor to choose the right procedure for you based on your test results. PRK surgery It was the mainstay of excimer laser surgery in the early 90’s. It was gradually replaced by LASIK and LASEK due to pain, foreign body sensation and other uncomfortable symptoms at the beginning of the surgery, and a small number of people may experience haze (clouding of the central cornea) after the surgery. The full name of LASIK is excimer laser in situ keratomileusis, also known as IK surgery. It is done by making a corneal flap on the cornea, then lifting the flap for excimer laser cutting, and then accurately resetting the flap before the end of the surgery, which only has a slight foreign body sensation after the surgery, and a few patients may have symptoms of tearing and photophobia. However, these sensations will gradually disappear 2 to 3 hours after surgery, and most patients will obtain a clear world by the second day after surgery. These advantages make LASIK the mainstream modality for excimer laser surgery today. Due to the increased demand for postoperative visual quality, new developments such as femtosecond laser, iris recognition and localization technology, and wavefront aberration-guided individualized LASIK have emerged in the last two years. The main difference between LASEK and LASIK is that the procedure is performed by creating a corneal epithelial flap, and the postoperative discomfort is between PRK and LASIK surgery. However, a few patients with high myopia may experience haze (clouding of the central cornea) after surgery. What are the precautions before and after surgery? Spectral antibiotic drops should be ordered 3 days before the excimer laser surgery, 4 to 6 times a day. Do not wear makeup before surgery, especially not mascara. You should not use perfume and some volatile odors on the day of surgery. After excimer laser surgery, wrap your eyes with a transparent eye shield for 1 day, and never rub your eyes to prevent the corneal flap from shifting. Foreign body sensation and tearing symptoms may occur 2 to 3 hours after surgery, and the feeling that there is a layer of hairy glass blocking in front of the eyes are all normal. Patients with high preoperative refractive error are slower to recover than those with low refractive error. Patients should come to the hospital for examination on the first day after excimer laser surgery, and pay attention to more rest and nutritious food (but do not eat seafood and spicy stimulating food). After surgery, we should follow the doctor’s prescription for eye drops, and make a review at 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years after surgery, and if there is any abnormality during the period, we should go to the hospital for examination.