How to Know if You Qualify for Lasik
nine criteria for a good LASIK candidate
A successful LASIK procedure is determined largely by whether you meet sure patient criteria and if laser center surgery is right for you.
LASIK and PRK outcomes are nearly ever favorable; however, not anybody is a adept candidate for vision correction surgery.
The following light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation eye surgery checklist is a good beginning to help yous determine if LASIK or PRK is correct for yous.
1. Your optics must be healthy
If yous have whatever status that tin can impact how your eyes answer to surgery or heal afterwards, you must wait until that condition is resolved. Examples are severe dry out middle syndrome, conjunctivitis (pink middle), infection and whatever type of eye injury.
If yous have persistent dry out optics, where you do not produce enough tears to keep your eyes lubricated and good for you, LASIK surgery may beal this condition. Common symptoms of dry eyes include burning or stinging, a gritty sensation in the eye, reduced tolerance to wind, intermittent blurry vision, and even excessive tears in some cases. If you have some of these symptoms, be sure to discuss them with your md prior to surgery.
Your heart md tin decide if you have dry out eyes during your preoperative exam and usually can successfully care for the condition so you lot tin and then keep with light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation eye surgery. Possible treatments include bogus tears, punctal plugs, medicated heart drops, flaxseed or fish oil supplements, or a combination of these approaches.
Cataracts that interfere with your vision and uncontrolled glaucoma as well will typically prevent yous from being a candidate for LASIK or PRK procedures.
2. Your cornea must take sufficient thickness
Most refractive procedures meliorate visual acuity by reshaping the front surface of the eye (cornea). Performing light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation eye surgery on a cornea that is also thin or has a surface that is extremely irregular and misshapen (for example, if you endure from keratoconus) could compromise results and impair your vision.
If you've been told in the past that you couldn't take LASIK because your corneas are too sparse, recent advances may hateful y'all're at present an acceptable candidate for laser vision correction. For case, using a femtosecond laser instead of a microkeratome may enable your surgeon to make a thinner corneal flap and thereby preserve more underlying corneal tissue for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation treatment.
And, if you're still not a good candidate for LASIK or PRK despite new technologies and techniques, another type of refractive surgery, such as implantable lenses (phakic IOLs), may be an choice.
3. Your pupils must not exist also large
If your pupils are naturally large, you lot could exist at increased risk of side effects such as halos, glares and starbursts in low low-cal, particularly when driving at night.
4. Your prescription must be within sure limits
If your prescription is very loftier — whether due to nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism — your center surgeon may advise y'all against the LASIK procedure.
Results of LASIK surgery for the handling of very high refractive errors are less predictable and may not exist worth the price and potential risks.
In addition, very high amounts of myopia, for example, could require removal of too much corneal tissue and put y'all at increased risk of vision complications.
If you have a astringent refractive error, another type of vision correction surgery may be a better pick, such as phakic IOL implantable lenses or refractive lens substitution.
v. You must exist old enough
Certain procedures require y'all to exist 18 years old; others, 21. Patients younger than these ages tin can exist treated as an exception at the discretion of the LASIK surgeon with permission from the patient's parent(south) or guardian.
Generally there is no upper age limit to light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation center surgery. However, it is of import to note that in one case yous hit your 40s, you may still demand reading spectacles to correct near vision due to a normal, historic period-related status chosen presbyopia.
Of course, your surgeon may also consider you a candidate for surgical correction of presbyopia such as monovision LASIK, which tin can improve your about vision without reading glasses or bifocals.
Keep in heed that women are more at risk for dry eyes after menopause, and men have a greater risk for dry eyes afterward in life equally well. As noted above, a dry eye status should be treated earlier LASIK surgery.
6. Your vision must be stable
Teenagers and many young adults oft feel changes in their contact lens prescription and eyeglass prescription from twelvemonth to yr. It's important for refractive errors to be stable for at to the lowest degree 12 months before undergoing LASIK or other refractive surgery.
Usually it is nearsightedness that gradually becomes worse, but in that location may be other changes too.
Younger people are not good candidates until their eyes have "settled downwards" into one prescription. Your centre doctor tin can tell you whether your prescription is stable.
7. Yous must be in good health
Contraindications to light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation middle surgery may include certain uncontrolled degenerative conditions or uncontrolled autoimmune diseases such as Sjogren's syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, blazon i diabetes and AIDS. People with HIV who take skillful allowed cell counts may exist candidates for LASIK.
Basically, if your body has any problem with healing, you volition have a higher take a chance of an unsatisfactory LASIK surgery outcome.
Opinions vary among LASIK surgeons regarding which diseases are automatic disqualifiers and which ones might pose acceptable risks in certain cases.
Likewise, certain medications tin can increment risks associated with laser center surgery. For example, immunosuppressants may interfere with post-operative healing, and some medications may increase the chance and/or severity of dry eye syndrome.
8. If y'all are pregnant, y'all should filibuster surgery
The LASIK procedure is non suitable if you are pregnant or nursing. Hormonal changes can alter the shape of your cornea, leading to temporary changes in your vision.
Surgery should not exist performed until your hormones and vision have returned to normal afterward pregnancy. This could take a few months.
Pregnant women often have dry eyes, which is another reason you may need to postpone LASIK until a few months later pregnancy. Besides, some medications that would normally be used earlier or afterward surgery to promote healing (such equally antibiotics and steroids) may be risky for your babe, whether unborn or nursing.
9. You must have realistic expectations
While the vast bulk of LASIK surgery results are excellent, you should be fully enlightened of the possible side effects, risks and potential LASIK complications earlier you choose to undergo the procedure.
An experienced LASIK surgeon will advise you whether you are a good candidate for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation eye surgery, or if some other blazon of refractive surgery may exist more appropriate.
It's of import to tell your surgeon all pertinent data relating to your health and medical history to ensure you achieve the best possible results.
Encounter an middle doctor
The merely way to know for sure that y'all are a good candidate for LASIK surgery is to meet an eye md for a comprehensive eye exam. Click hither to find an eye doctor near you.
Page published in Feb 2019
Page updated in January 2022
Source: https://www.allaboutvision.com/visionsurgery/lasik-criteria.htm
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