LASEK. Most people confuse this with LASIK, and it is not interchangeable, rather it is a form of LASIK. Just like Blue Bonnet is a form of margarine, but not all margarine is Blue Bonnet. LASEK involves creating an ultra-thin hinged flap in the thin outer covering of the eye, which is called the epithelium. Once this thin flap is created, it is floated away from the eye's surface with alcohol. Once it is out of the way, an excimer laser can be used to reshape the cornea and correct the vision problems in the eye.

Epi-LASIK. This is a procedure that is done very much the same way as LASEK, except that a special cutting tool is used to lift the flap, and move it out of the way, rather than using alcohol to float it out of the way. This eliminates the possibility of an adverse reaction to alcohol placed on the eye's surface during LASEK.

Bladeless, Blade-Free, or All-Laser LASIK. Again this is a form of LASIK eye surgery that involves the use of another type of laser, rather than a mechanical cutting tool, to create the flap that must be moved out of the way for LASIK to be performed. This form of eye surgery is often referred to as IntraLASIK because the laser used for this purpose originally was made and marketed by IntraLase Corp. Another name for it is iLASIK which comes from basically the same reasoning, in that Advanced Medical Optics obtained the IntraLase technology and integrated it into the company's CustomVue excimer laser platform (iLASIK). So, in other words, depending on what type of laser is used to cut the flap, you might find another name for this surgery, but all in all it is simply a surgery that uses one laser to cut the flap and another to correct the shape of the cornea.

Wavefront LASIK or PRK. This type of LASIK surgery also has many names, it is referred to commonly as wavefront-guided, wavefront-assisted, or custom LASIK/PRK. In this form of surgery, the laser is used in addition to an ultra-modern analysis, known as wavefront, that maps out the eye's surface by measuring the way light travels through the eye. This surgery name is for the surgery performed with excimer lasers with built-in wavefront analysis used to detect and automatically adjust for subtle vision errors when laser energy is applied to reshape the cornea. Basically it is a more accurate form of laser eye surgery. It is also supposed to be a good form of LASIK to get in order to reduce the risk of night glare, or other related low contrast vision problems.