Lazer Eye Surgery, are you a candidate?
Monday, December 1st, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Not everyone is suitable for lazer eye surgery. In order to have the operation you will have to meet the following criteria:
A stable prescription is really important. Your eyes need to be steady for at least a couple of years. You wouldn’t want to have the procedure done only for your eyes to get worse and then have to have it done again.
Your health needs to be good in order to have any operation.
Your eyes also need to be healthy.
Your cornea, the clear dome, needs to be thick enough. The operation will involve shaving off part of your cornea.
Short sightedness should be less than 10 Diopters although there are procedure suitable for higher prescriptions.
Maximum long-sightedness is around 6 D, though this does vary a bit with surgeons.
If you have astigmatism it should be less than 5 Diopters
If you can pass these first 7 steps then you are on your way to being a suitable candidate.
But what difference does age make?
If you are past the age of 45 then you need to clear about what can be achieved with lazer eye surgery.
There are 3 options available to you:
The first option is just to correct your distance vision. After the operation you will wear reading glasses when ever you look at things up close.
A second option would be to try something called mono-vision. This is where one eye is corrected for distance and the other corrected for reading. This might sound a bit lop sided, but optometrists do this quite often with contact lenses. Around half the people who try this can successfully adapt. Before opting for a permanent mono-vision correction I would strongly advise you to try it with contact lenses first before the prescription is permanently etched into your eyes.
The third option is to have a lens implanted that flexes with the muscles of your eye. This is a much more invasive procedure, although it is based on standard cataract surgical technique. It is not for the faint hearted.
You could look at the surgeons website to see if they do the mono-vision technique.
Overall lazer eye correction is a safe and effective option for most people. It is important to have realistic expectations. You may still need to wear reading glasses after your procedure and if you have a very high prescription you make not get a perfect outcome. The vast majority of people who have had the operation are very happy.
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