Every summer, there are always many myopic patients, especially students with myopia, go to the hospital for excimer laser surgery to get rid of the trouble of wearing glasses through surgery. Ophthalmologists point out that due to the lack of relevant knowledge, there are five major misconceptions about myopia laser surgery. Myth 1: There is no age limit for laser surgery With the rising incidence of myopia among primary and secondary school students, many parents want to take advantage of summer vacation to help their children quickly relieve their myopia troubles through surgery. In fact, there is a certain age limit for excimer laser surgery. Usually, the best age for surgery is between 18 and 45 years old. Youngsters younger than 18 are still developing, their eyes are still growing, and their myopia is unstable, so it is best to wait until they are 18 years old and their eyes are relatively stable before having surgery. However, children are not completely unable to undergo this type of surgery. Children with severe myopia or astigmatic refractive error, such as a difference of 400 to 600 degrees between the two eyes, or with high astigmatism, amblyopia, strabismus, or severe refractive fatigue, can be treated with excimer laser surgery if they do not improve significantly after treatment. In addition, myopic patients who are older than 50 years old are not suitable for laser surgery. This is because after the age of 50, the incidence of cataracts gradually increases, and the adjustment function of the eye gradually decreases, and what is commonly known as “presbyopia” begins to increase. This kind of people through laser surgery to correct myopia, in fact, is more harm than good. The second misconception: any degree can do laser surgery Myopic laser surgery is not a “one-size-fits-all”. In addition to age, there are certain limits on the number of degrees that can be treated. All excimer laser surgery is appropriate for myopia in the range of 200 to 1200 degrees. For patients with more than 1,200 degrees of myopia, laser cutting can cause the preserved corneal tissue to become too thin and prone to anterior convexity due to intraocular pressure, and in severe cases, even secondary cone corneas, requiring corneal transplantation to remedy the situation. Patients with ultra-high myopia can choose a better method, i.e. lens eye IOL implantation, where the patient has enough space in the eye to implant an IOL with refractive correction in front of his lens to correct myopia and astigmatism by changing the refractive power. Myth 3: Laser surgery is not necessarily safe Myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism are collectively referred to as refractive errors. Refractive error of the eye is mainly caused by changes in the refractive index of the cornea and lens. Excimer laser surgery corrects refractive errors by using a high-efficiency beam to cut the anterior surface of the cornea, changing the curvature of the anterior surface and adjusting the refractive power of the cornea so that external light is accurately imaged on the retina, thus achieving a corrective effect. Before excimer laser myopia surgery, the surgeon needs to conduct dozens of detailed examinations on the patient, and based on the examination results, carefully gives a rigorous scientific prescription to be instructed in the excimer laser treatment instrument, and the surgery is performed under computer-controlled tracking. Generally speaking, the excimer laser is a very short wavelength ultraviolet light, which has a photochemical effect with biological tissues rather than a thermal effect, and therefore, does not produce thermal damage. It can precisely vaporize the corneal tissue of the human eye for the purpose of cutting and sculpting the cornea, and does not damage the surrounding tissues and other organs. Therefore, excimer laser surgery is currently the most effective way to correct refractive errors. Of course, as a precise and rigorous surgery, patients need to go to a regular, qualified hospital and find an excimer laser specialist with extensive experience to ensure the safety and reliability of the surgery. The first thing you need to do is to get your eyesight back. In fact, this is another common misconception about myopia laser surgery. The acceleration of myopia usually occurs between the ages of 12 and 18, and most people will gradually stabilize after the age of 18. Myopic laser surgery is a very precise and rigorous procedure. In general, patients who undergo the procedure are required to be at least 18 years old and to have a relatively stable progression of myopia over the past two years, with no more than 50 degrees of progression per year. The surgery is computer-controlled, and a concave mirror is precisely cut out of the cornea, and the molecular bonds between the corneal tissues are broken and vaporized by a cold laser. As long as the patient goes to a regular hospital and asks an experienced surgeon to perform the surgery, and pays attention to eye hygiene after the surgery to avoid further lengthening of the eye axis, myopia will mostly not happen again. Myth 5: Only myopia can be treated but not astigmatism Many myopic patients are accompanied by astigmatism, which often causes more serious discomfort than myopia and can cause amblyopia and visual fatigue if not corrected. Many myopic patients worry that excimer laser surgery can only correct myopia, but if astigmatism continues to exist, it will still lead to blurred vision and the need to wear frames. In fact, excimer laser corneal surgery has some advantages for correcting astigmatism. The laser can not only cut concave lenses on the cornea to treat myopia, but can also create both cylindrical and convex lenses on the cornea up to 600 degrees. Thus, excimer laser corneal surgery can treat 200 to 1200 degrees of myopia and up to 600 degrees of astigmatism at the same time, as well as up to 600 degrees of farsightedness, all at once.