Lasik Eligibility

 You lasik eligibility is assessed on the following criteria:

·        Firstly, your prescription needs to be stable ideally there would be no prescription change for a year or two.

·        You need to be in reasonably good health.

·        Free from any eye disease.

·        You need a thick enough cornea.

·        Short-sightedness no more than 10

·        Long-sightedness under 6

·        Astigmatism less than 5

Passing these seven criteria is the first hurdle to overcome in assessing your lasik eligibility.

What about Age?

As someone who wears reading glasses you need to have clear expectations on your lasik eligibility.

You have three options:

·        Correct your distance vision so that your sight will be just like looking through the distance part of your bifocals or multifocals. How ever you will still need to wear reading glasses and computer glasses.

·        The second option is called Mono Vision. This is where one eye is corrected of distance vision and one (usually your non dominant) is corrected for reading. Optometrists do this with contact lenses and generally it works quite well for about  2/3rds of those who try it.

·        Before opting for a permanent monovision 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 an implantable lens that flexes with the muscles of your eye. This is a much more invasive procedure, although it is based on the tried and tested cataract surgical technique.

·        Do your research and check out the prospective surgeon’s website to see if they do the mono vision procedure.

Five things to look for a laser surgeon’s website

·        Does the surgeon specialise in refractive surgery or does he do a little of everything. The procedure is very simple for a good surgeon, as all the smarts are in the machine. However it is still best to go for surgeon who specialises in refractive surgery, the more experience the better.

·        Does the website realistically discuss the potential complications of the procedure or does it gloss over the potential complications. You should find mention of:

o       Under or over correction determine if the cost of an enhancement is included in cost of the procedure.

o       The halo effect. Where some people have problems with halo’s when night driving.

o       Corneal haze. A slight scarring that occurs when the cornea heals.

o       Corneal flap complications. Occasionally problems occur when cutting the flap. The tend to be more common with the microkeratome ( which is a blade) than the laser method.

o       Epithelial regrowth. Occasionally the skin on the eye can grow under the flap causing hazy vision.

o       Raised pressure in the eye from the steroid medications used after the procedure.

o       Bulging cornea, if it was a bit too thin to start with.

o       Loss of best corrected vision. If the laser cut is off center or any unforeseen irregularities occur.

·        Does the sight give statistics about the surgeons performance. All good centres keep stats on their performance, the percentage of successful outcomes and the rate of complications.

·        Over reliance on testimonials. This should set off a warning bell if the site seems to be overselling the procedure.

·        General whiff of over commercialism. Some surgeons are heavily motivated by the fantastic money they can earn doing the procedure: “Burn to Earn” as their colleagues often call it. This leads them to have a bias towards advising patients to have a procedure when they are borderline. In my opinion it is best to choose a more conservative surgeon. For example if the cornea is borderline thick enough the commercial will say yes whereas the conservative will say no. If you have any doubts you should seek a second opinion about you lasik eligibility.