Are You a Candidate for LASIK Eye Surgery?
Determining if LASIK is Right For You
LASIK is one of the safest and most common elective procedures performed in the US. However, not everyone is a suitable candidate for the procedure. To determine if you are a LASIK eye surgery candidate, it’s important to schedule a comprehensive consultation with an experienced LASIK surgeon. Only a LASIK surgeon can determine your true candidacy and help you understand how the procedure can improve your vision and eliminate glasses or contacts. Not ready to come in for a consultation? We can help you find out if LASIK may be right for you.
General Qualifications
There are general qualifications a person must meet to be considered for LASIK; the proper age, good corneal health, no dry eye, and the right refractive error. While these qualifications are not conclusive, they can give you a general sense of whether or not LASIK may help you see clearly without glasses or contacts.
Age
While people at any age can have LASIK, there are guidelines that allow us to ensure patients are receiving the best surgical procedure for their visual needs. The minimum age a person must be to have LASIK is 18-21. Until we reach 18-21 years of age, our eyes are constantly changing. If your prescription changes—even by the smallest degree—after your LASIK procedure, it may lead to less-than-optimal surgical results. For this reason, patients between the ages of 18-21 must have a stable prescription for at least 12 months to be considered for LASIK.
When we consider the upper limits for age, we are no longer concerned with how your prescription changes but how your lens changes. As we get older, the natural lens in our eye begins to turn brittle and cloudy. This typically happens in our 50s and 60s. LASIK does NOT address your eye’s aging lens in any way. Because of this, people in their 50s and 60s who have a refractive error called presbyopia or a cataract may not be candidates for LASIK. Instead, these people should consider Refractive Lens Exchange or Cataract Surgery.
Corneal Health
LASIK is a vision correction procedure that permanently alters the shape of your cornea using a laser. Due to the nature of the procedure, it’s important that a person’s corneal health be evaluated to ensure the procedure will not only be effective, but safe. If a person has been diagnosed with thin corneas, Fuchs’ dystrophy, corneal dystrophy, or other corneal conditions, they may not be a candidate for LASIK eye surgery.
Dry Eye
During the LASIK procedure, lasers are used to make a small flap in the cornea and permanently alter the shape of the cornea. These lasers can temporarily disrupt the corneal nerves responsible for tear production, resulting in a short-term decrease in tear production. If you struggle with dry eye symptoms or have been diagnosed with Dry Eye Disease, you may not be a candidate for LASIK.
Refractive Error
Clear vision depends on how light rays are focused, or “refracted”, through your eye. When the eye cannot properly refract light, the results are what’s referred to as a refractive error, which leads to blurry vision. But LASIK can change all that. This revolutionary procedure can correct the following refractive errors and give you crystal clear vision.
Myopia (Nearsightedness)
Nearsightedness (myopia) occurs when the cornea is too steep or the eyeball is too long. Images of distant objects are blurred, but close objects are clear. LASIK can treat mild to moderate myopia.
Hyperopia (Farsightedness)
Farsightedness (hyperopia) results when the cornea is too flat or the eyeball is too short, causing near objects to appear blurred. Some farsighted people cannot focus on distant or near objects. LASIK can treat mild hyperopia.
Astigmatism
Astigmatism occurs when the curvature of the cornea is uneven and is shaped more like a football than a baseball. This creates multiple focal points in the eye, making it difficult to focus on objects clearly. LASIK can treat astigmatism.
Not sure what type of refractive error you have? Schedule a comprehensive LASIK consultation and we’ll determine what type of refractive error you have and if it qualifies you for LASIK.
LASIK and Astigmatism
Your eye is evenly rounded and spherical, like a baseball. Astigmatism occurs when the eye is not evenly rounded, or when it’s shaped more like a football than a baseball. There are two main types of astigmatism: horizontal and vertical astigmatism. Horizontal astigmatism occurs when the eye is wider than it is tall. Vertical astigmatism occurs when the eye is taller than it is wide. Regardless of the type of astigmatism you have, the effects on your vision are the same. Astigmatism creates multiple focal points in the eye, making objects appear blurry at all distances.
LASIK can treat varying degrees of astigmatism (up to 5 diopters of astigmatism) to give you clear vision without the need for glasses and contacts!
Do You Qualify for LASIK?
The only way to determine true LASIK candidacy is to come in for a complete, comprehensive eye exam with our LASIK team. Our LASIK surgeons use state-of-the-art diagnostic tools to evaluate all aspects of your vision and determine if LASIK eye surgery is best for you.
What if I Don’t Qualify for LASIK?
Occasionally, a patient’s anatomical measurements are outside of the FDA requirements for the LASIK procedure, or LASIK is simply deemed unsuitable for a patient. However, not being qualified for LASIK does not mean that a person’s chances of living glasses or contacts free are gone! As the leader in vision correction, we offer some of the most advanced forms of vision correction that suit a broad range of patients. We have surgeons who are experts in EVO ICL and Refractive Lens Exchange, some of the most popular alternatives to LASIK eye surgery.
Achieve Your Best Vision with LASIK
Wilmington Eye completely personalizes LASIK not only to improve your prescription (most patients experience 20/20 or better following LASIK), but also to enhance the overall quality of your vision. Our advanced technology allows us to give you a unique LASIK procedure that will give you the most clear and vibrant vision possible, all without glasses or contacts! To determine if LASIK is right for you, schedule a comprehensive consultation today.