During LASIK, your eye is made numb with an eye drop and a lid holder is placed in your eye to keep you from blinking. You simply look at a flashing red light for about 3 minutes, which is how long the laser eye surgery typically takes.
A patient from Camarillo recently asked me a question that I often am asked. How do we keep patients from blinking during LASIK or PRK laser vision correction surgery?
The answer is that we first numb the eye with a numbing drop and we then use a small lid holder to keep the eye open during surgery while you lay down at look up at a flashing light. In this way, your eye is numb so it doesn’t have the urge to blink and the lid holder keeps it from blinking anyway. The lid holder is made of rounded metal and is not sharp or painful. It does feel a bit strange at first though, but you soon get used to it keeping your eye open. With your eye held open by the lid holder, you simply look at a flashing red light which is not itself a laser — just a target to look at. The laser itself is invisible as it is outside the visible spectrum and it is painless as well. You simply look at the red light for about 3 minutes and you do not see anything scary. If you move your eye, the laser can follow it using sophisticated eye tracking technology similar to missile tracking technology used by the military.
When the LASIK eye surgery is over, the lid holder is removed. Typically, patients are surprised at how easy it is to have the lid holder in place keeping the eye from blinking — and how easy and quick it is to undergo LASIK in general!
See Also
What Will I Experience During LASIK Laser Eye Surgery
ABC News blog on undergoing LASIK laser vision correction.
LASIK Procedure Day
A review from University of Oregon Health Sciences about what the day of LASIK is like.
What Should I Expect Before, During, and After LASIK Surgery
FDA website discussion of what to expect when having LASIK laser eye surgery.
University of Rochester Medical Center Frequently Asked Questions About LASIK
Several common questions about LASIK, including questions about blinking, are answered in this University of Rochester Medical Center webpage resource.
What If I Look Away, Blink, Cough or Sneeze During the Procedure
A good discussion from the London Vision Clinic in the U.K. about blinking, coughing, or sneezing during LASIK.
LASIK and Laser Eye Surgery
Eye Health Web discussion of LASIK.