The science behind LASIK. For many of us, our imperfect vision… | by Ethan Siegel | Starts With A Bang! | Aug, 2025

For many of us, our imperfect vision compels us to wear corrective lenses to see properly. Here’s what everyone should know about LASIK.
The human eye is one of the most remarkable organs that each of us is equipped with. As we open our eyes, our pupils allow light from the environment to enter, providing us with a visual window into the outside world. That light gets focused by a lens within our eye, where muscles and ligaments can control the position and shape of that lens. Then, that focused light arrives on a screen-like organ located at the back of our eyeballs: the retina, which uses photodetectors — rods and cones — to process that light signal and send it to our brains. Our brains then interpret the full suite of data to produce an image. When the whole system works together, it produces the experience of sight: one of what’s commonly known as “the five senses,” although in reality, humans have many other senses as well.
Unfortunately, our eyes aren’t infallible, perfect organs that always focus the light down to a point on our retinas. Some of us struggle to focus objects that are located too close to us, rendering us farsighted. Others struggle to see objects located too far away, rendering us nearsighted. Some of us have both of these afflictions, particularly beyond the…
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