Research Paper on:
LASIK Advantages Over Contact Lenses

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
from poor vision. Until relatively recently the most common form of correction was either glasses or contacts. While contacts offer a number of advantages over glasses, contact users  can still encounter a number of problems ranging from discomfort to severe infection which has the potential to cause blindness. Just recently there has been a surgical breakthrough in  regard to the way in which visual problems can be corrected. That breakthrough is LASIK (laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis). An estimated one-hundred  million Americans currently need some form of vision correction (Sbyderman and Gibson, 1999). As is noted above, in most cases this correction is provided with the use of corrective  external lenses, either glasses or contacts. Some of the more adventuresome among our population, however, are seeking out slightly more radical approaches to vision correction. Laser surgery is  one of these approaches. The latest, and most praised, method of opthamological surgery involving lasers is LASIK . LASIK is most often employed to correct myopia, the nearsightedness  which characterizes and estimated twenty-five percent of Americans (Sbyderman and Gibson, 1999). The LASIK procedure over all has met with tremendous success and popularity.  The successes or LASIK are indeed phenomenal. We have all heard the accolades of individuals who have undergone the procedure and been able almost immediately to enjoy  much improved vision. There are indeed many promises in LASIK. What must be emphasized, however, is that there are known complications which can be associated with the procedure  (Gorman, Cray, Gibson, Meier, and Park, 1999). Due to the newness of this procedure, it is very possible as well that there are long term complications which have yet