pitch a game just two days after the surgery. Laser surgery utilizes the excimer laser, a device approved in 1995 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for correcting mild to moderate myopia, (Lewis 1998, 1). These lasers are also permitted for both PRK and LASIK surgery, though LASIK surgery took longer to win FDA approval than did its counterpart procedure.
Since 1995, there have been two laser systems approved for treating mild to moderate myopia and astigmatism. One is known as the SVX Apex excimer laser, manufactured by Summit Technology of Waltham, Mass., and the VISX excimer laser, manufactured by VISX Inc., of Santa Clara, California, (Lewis 1998). The VISX system has also received FDA approval for patients with high myopia. Such computer controlled lasers allow for precision surgeries in which ophthalmologists repair refractive errors. Optometrists have been fighting to gain permission to perform laser eye surg
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