Pr Yves Pouliquen is a surgeon and was formerly Chief of Ophthalmology at Hôtel-Dieu Hospital, Paris.
Dr Jean-Jacques Saragoussi is an ophthalmic surgeon, working at Hôtel-Dieu Hospital.

New ways of correcting failing eyesight have been developed as a consequence of our increased lifespan. Although spectacles have existed since the thirteenth century, and the use of contact lenses is now widespread, the past 25 years have seen the development of a more radical solution for poor eyesight: surgery, and particularly procedures that correct refraction-related disorders such as presbyopia, or long-sightedness. Limited at first to a social elite whose concern with appearances led to a rejection of glasses, eye surgery has since become available to a wide range of patients, largely as a result of progress in laser surgery.

Which disorders can be corrected with laser surgery? What does this type of surgery entail? What are the risks and the advantages?