“Cataracts is ranked as the highest cause of blindness in Sub Saharan Africa, followed by glaucoma, a condition caused by having  lots of  pressure which damages nerves connecting the eye to the brain” says Dr. Sheila Marco, a consultant eye surgeon at Eagle Eye Laser Centre in Nairobi.

The Eagle Eye Laser Centre runs an ophthalmological clinic to treat eye conditions such as cataracts and glaucoma, through a corrective surgery on the eye using advanced technology equipments that offer accurate and lasting optical solutions. Such innovative procedures like the LASIK (Laser-in-SituKeratomi) uses a computer controlled cool beam of light to gently reshape a damaged cornea in 5 – 10 seconds.

LASIK is the most commonly performed refractive surgery procedure. This technology has saved a lot of patients’ time and money to travel abroad for eye corrective surgery”, says Dr. Kahaki Kimani, a consultant eye surgeon at the Eagle Eye Laser Centre.

“When I heard about the LASIK procedure being carried out in my hometown (Nairobi), I thought of convenience! I didn’t have to travel abroad for my treatment”, says Prof. Patrick Ndavi Muia, a former patient of Eagle Eye Laser Centre.

LASIK has advantages over other vision correction procedures, including a relative lack of pain afterward and the fact that good vision usually is achieved by the very next day. An instrument called a microkeratome is used in LASIK eye surgery to create a thin, circular flap in the cornea.

The surgeon folds the hinged flap back out of the way, and then removes some corneal tissue underneath using an excimer laser. The excimer laser uses a cool ultraviolet light beam to precisely remove ("ablate") very tiny bits of tissue from the cornea to reshape it.

When the cornea is reshaped in the right way, it works better to focus light into the eye and onto the retina, providing clearer vision than before. The flap is then laid back in place, covering the area where the corneal tissue was removed.

According to Dr. Wanjiku Kiumbura, microkeratome cuts a thin, hinged flap into the eye's clear surface. The flap then is lifted for application of laser energy that reshapes the eye for vision correction. Compared to the old traditional machines, replacing the flap in LASIK promotes faster healing.

The center uses other advanced machines like the Zeiss 111 and Yag laser machines to burn leaking vessels at the back of the eye and smoothen it to optimize vision respectively. These machines contain build in embedded computer systems with program instructions to generate reports.