Can LASIK get rid of my contact lenses?

Q: I am 20 years old and I am staying in Bangalore. I have short eyesight since birth. When I was 7 years old, I consulted a doctor at Narayana Nethralaya, Bangalore. My left eye was 0.75 and my right eye was -7 with 4 cylindrical power. When I did some exercises with the help of the machine, within a year my right eye decreased to -5 with 3 cylindrical power and my left eye to 0.25. Then she recommended me semi-soft contact lenses. Then with increasing age, my power too started to increase. Some months back, I decided to have lasik and visited Dr. Rohit Shetty at Narayana Nethralaya. Then my power was -13 with 5 cylindrical power in my right and 1.25 in my left eyes so he said that my right eye power is too high, we cannot eliminate this power but it can be reduced to around -3 to -4 with 2 cylindrical power and he said that if I am not satisfied then I should wait for 2 to 3 years. There will be more equipment invented by that time to eliminate the power. He recommended me toric lenses which are comfortable. My question is can my right eye gain normal vision or are there some equipment to be invented in the near future to eliminate eye powers If yes how much time will it take? I have another problem. When I am not wearing toric lenses and I continue to see something for about 10 to 20 seconds, my right eye moves little bit towards my right side and little bit down and assumes to be as split eyes when it blinks 2 to 3 times it gets into normal position. When I wear toric lenses this problem is eliminated. My question is what is this problem? How can it be eliminated completely?

A:There are a few details which you have not mentioned in your query which would help us to give you a detailed answer. One you have not mentioned the visual acuity of your eyes or whether you have adequate corneal thickness. From your query, it appears you have a condition of anisometropia (large difference in power between the two eyes). In this case the right eye has a very much higher power and may be weaker because of this (amblyopia). Hence when both the eyes are relaxed the right eye can drift away which is normal in this condition. I hope this answers the second part of your query.Since you are 20 years old, it appears that your power may have stabilised. Correction of the power depends not only on the number but also on the corneal thickness and pupillary size. It may be necessary to leave back a residual power to maintain your corneal stability in case you do not have adequate corneal thickness which is probably what your doctor informed you. The Customized Lasik software offered by the VISX STAR S4 is one of the most superior treatment options available today. It has certain unique features, which make it safe, stable and predictable. These are: 1) it has an active 3-D tracker which enables an accurate correction even in tiny movements of the eye, 2) It removes minimum corneal tissue and so is safe for the correction of higher refractive errors without the fear of corneal thinning. The first VISX STAR S4 excimer laser in India has been installed at Shroff Eye Centre at A-9, Kailash Colony, New Delhi - 110 048. You may benefit by getting yourself screened for your suitability for LASIK on this machine.