Lasik, Cataract Surgery & Dry Eye Treatment in Santa Monica

Laser Eye Center is home to some of Santa Monica’s finest ophthalmologists and eye surgeons. The entire team shares a deep commitment to providing safe, comfortable and compassionate eye care in a welcoming environment. With a 30-year track record of success, Laser Eye Center takes pride in their work and is devoted to advancing the field of ocular surgery through technology, techniques and patient care.

Every patient’s needs are unique, and the team at Laser Eye Center understands how to tailor treatment to the individual patient. The doctors spend a lot of time with patients, learning about their eyes, health and lifestyle before determining a suitable plan of action.

LASIK

LASIK permanently corrects nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism to reduce or eliminate dependence on visual aids. When trusted to the talented professionals at Laser Eye Center, LASIK is a quick procedure with a short recovery that delivers prompt results. Many patients are able to see more clearly than they previously could with glasses or contacts. Laser Eye Center exclusively uses state-of-the-art lasers to create the corneal flap and perform the laser correction; the all-laser approach enhances the precision and accuracy of LASIK treatment while minimizing some of the risks.

Cataract Surgery

Cataracts, or a clouding of the eye’s natural lens, are one of the most common vision problems to affect older adults. Cataracts cannot be treated with medicine; they must be removed with surgery. Cataract surgery is very safe and predictable when performed by the team of experts at Laser Eye Center. During surgery, the eye’s natural lens is carefully removed and replaced with an artificial intraocular lens (IOL). The IOL is responsible for providing clear vision after surgery. Laser Eye Center offers a wide range of IOL options to restore vision at multiple distances with little or no need for glasses.

Pterygium

A pterygium is a fleshy growth that develops on the eyeball. Pterygia are linked to sun exposure and are common in surfers, sunbathers and other people who enjoy spending time outdoors. Large pterygia that cause uncomfortable symptoms or interfere with vision can be removed using the autograft technique. The Laser Eye Center surgeons remove the lesion and use the patient’s own tissue, taken from another part of the eye, as a graft. The autograph technique has been shown to reduce the risk of recurrence.

Keratoconus

A normal, healthy cornea is round, similar to a basketball. But a cornea that develops the degenerative disease known as keratoconus bulges outward into a cone-like shape. The irregular shape interferes with light entering the eye on the way to the retina, causing distorted, blurry vision. Keratoconus treatments at Laser Eye Center include the use of corrective lenses or contacts or the placement of a corneal implant. Corneal crosslinking, which uses riboflavin drops and ultraviolet light to strengthen the collagen fibers in the cornea, has also shown great promise for patients with keratoconus.

Dry Eye Disease

The eyes need to be bathed in a layer of tears at all times to stay moist and comfortable. If the eyes do not produce enough tears, or the tears do not have the proper composition, the eyes can become dry, itchy and uncomfortable. Dry eye disease is a problem commonly managed by Laser Eye Center. Depending on the type and cause of dry eye, treatment may entail using eye drops, artificial tears or medications. If those strategies do not produce a sufficient improvement in tear quality/quantity, a procedure to close the tear ducts through which tears drain may be recommended; closing the ducts helps the eyes stay better lubricated.

Presbyopia

A young, healthy lens is thin and flexible, able to bend and flex to focus on objects at different distances. But with age, the lens can become rigid and unable to focus on nearby objects. This is known as presbyopia, and most cases occur around the age of 40. Laser Eye Center often treats presbyopia with refractive surgery.

Myopia

Myopia, or nearsightedness, is a refractive error in which the eye’s shape makes it difficult to see faraway objects. Glasses and contact lenses can correct for myopia, but are a nuisance to many. LASIK with the Laser Eye Center team permanently reshapes the cornea to improve nearsightedness and reduce reliance on corrective eyewear.

Astigmatism

A healthy cornea is round, like a basketball. A cornea with astigmatism has an irregular curvature and a more cone-like shape, similar to an egg or a football. Because of the irregularity, light entering the eye does not focus on the retina like it should; as a result, vision is often blurry or distorted. Patients who do not want to rely on glasses or contact lenses for vision correction can opt for laser eye surgery (i.e., LASIK) to permanently correct the shape of the cornea.

To request an appointment with the doctors at Laser Eye Center, please call or email the practice today.