Justin was furious with himself after he lost his prescription ski goggles on the slopes last winter. The nearsighted ski bum spent half the morning searching, but the powdery mountain had claimed his signature red specs.

"I'd been thinking about getting LASIK for awhile," Justin said. "After my goggles disappeared, I just decided to go for it so [my vision] wouldn't be an issue anymore."

Mark Mifflin, M.D., an ophthalmologist at University of Utah Health Care's Moran Eye Center, said the surgery is incredibly popular among active people like Justin. Cyclists, snowboarders, triathletes and weekend warriors of all stripes love the freedom laser-corrected eyes has given them.

So how does it work?

Laser eye surgery corrects nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism. It won't repair older eyes that have lost their youthful focusing power and now need reading glasses nor will it fix vision in eyes with a pathologic disease, such as lazy eye.

"Generally, young adulthood through late middle-age is the sweet spot for the surgery," Mifflin said. "We determine whether people are candidates through a thorough eye exam, studying a patient's complete history, and performing a lot of tests such as screening for eye diseases and mapping the curvature and thickness of the cornea."

Two-thirds of patients Mifflin sees at Moran Eye Center get a green light for surgery.

What can I expect during the surgery?

"My main thought going in was ‘What if I flinch?'" Justin said.

It's a common fear.

"A lot of people wonder how they'll keep their eye open during the surgery," Mifflin said. "An eyelid holder is placed, and the person looks at a target into the invisible laser light."

Today's lasers have trackers that track the eye and pupil to ensure the laser beam is aimed perfectly on each pulse.

"If a patient were to move or look away, the laser just automatically shuts off," Mifflin said. "It's very easy for most people. There's a lot of coaching, hand-holding and patient education. It's very low risk, and there are not a lot of bad things that can happen during the surgery."

The entire procedure takes 15-30 minutes with the actual laser part lasting just 5-30 seconds. The eyes are anesthetized with three or four numbing drops, and the patient may feel a little pressure or coolness but no pain.

But what about the horror stories?

There are two types of laser vision correction surgery: LASIK (Laser-Assisted In-Situ Keratomileusis) and PRK (photorefractive keratectomy). In both surgeries, a laser reshapes the cornea, the clear window-like structure on the surface of the eye.

"The way the ultraviolet light works is that it's high energy so it goes into the tissue and it breaks the molecular bonds, and the tissue is vaporized," Mifflin said.

In LASIK surgery — the most common and well known of the two — a surgeon cuts a thin flap of cornea tissue (also performed by a laser), raises the flap like a trap door, reshapes the tissue and then places the flap back down.

"That allows for a very quick recovery so most people who have LASIK can see well enough to drive and function and go to work the next day," Mifflin said.

PRK surgery yields the same results as LASIK. It's preferred for patients with thinner corneas or dry eyes (you guessed it — that's very common in Utah). No flap is created in PRK surgery. Instead the outer layer of the cornea is removed, and recovery time is a bit longer. A physician determines which surgery is best for each individual.

"The results for both surgeries tend to be very stable because the cornea doesn't have a lot of healing or change over time," Mifflin said.

A small percentage of adult eyes "drift" over their adult years, especially nearsighted eyes. But the change is mild.

"About 5 percent of people with nearsightedness would need a little touchup surgery 10 years out," said Mifflin, who, like all of his Moran Eye Center colleagues, completed a one-year laser eye surgery fellowship in addition to medical school and ophthalmology residencies.

But will it work on MY eyes?

Laser eye surgery is nearly 20 years old, and we're now far removed from the high-risk early days.

"I had the privilege of training right at the beginning of LASIK surgery so I've seen it evolve," Mifflin said.

Moran Eye Center is one of the world's leading training facilities for laser eye surgery and a referral center that sees patients from throughout Utah and surrounding states. Over the years, Mifflin has corrected the eyes of many patients who received laser eye surgery elsewhere. He doesn't correct other doctors' surgeries nearly as much anymore since the surgery has become safer and safer.

"The chance of visually threatening problems are very low with proper screening and evaluation," Mifflin said. "Literally less than 1 in 5,000 patients at our center experience any type of serious problem."

Even if there are complications, the problem is almost always correctable, Mifflin said, noting that contact lenses actually pose a larger risk to vision than laser eye surgery because of infection potential.

"The satisfaction rate is super, super high," Mifflin said.

Justin is among the biggest fans of laser vision correction. He hit the slopes this winter without corrective goggles, and he could see the trees and other skiers and snowboarders in the distance more crisply than ever.

"No glasses anymore, no contacts," he said. "I just go."

If you want to learn more, a LASIK Surgery Seminar might be right for you.

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