Vision Stability You must have a vision prescription that has not changed over the last 12 months. LASIK will only correct your current eye prescription. If your vision prescription is not stable and continues to change, the procedure will be less effective.
Yes, your vision can be potentially too bad for LASIK. LASIK is available to a variety of patients, but patients will generally qualify for treatment if their vision falls between -0.5 D to -8.0 D myopia. The maximum prescription for treatment for patients with moderate to severe myopia is around -8.0 D.
Certain conditions, such as autoimmune diseases (e.g., lupus, rheumatoid arthritis), immunodeficiency states (e.g., HIV) and diabetes, and some medications (e.g., retinoic acid and steroids) may prevent proper healing after a refractive procedure. You actively participate in contact sports.
If you develop blurry vision 2 years, 5 years, or 10 years after surgery, your eyes have likely changed with age. Visit your doctor for a comprehensive eye exam to rule out issues like glaucoma and cataracts. If your eyes are healthy, you may have age-related nearsightedness LASIK can't prevent or treat.
You can get LASIK more than once. But undergoing more than three LASIK procedures can be harmful to your health and cause severe vision problems. Each time you undergo LASIK, the surgeon removes corneal tissue. If your corneas are too thin after the first procedure, you may not be able to have a second LASIK surgery.
LASIK Eye Surgery Lifetime Warranty
If at any time you experience visual changes, you will receive a same-technology procedure free of charge when deemed medically appropriate by the surgeon.
Generally speaking, most LASIK eye surgeons agree on 25-40 as the ideal age range for LASIK eye surgery candidacy for a few reasons. By the age of 25, eyeglasses and contact lens prescriptions have most likely stabilized. A stable prescription is one of the hallmarks of a good LASIK candidate.
The average age for LASIK has historically been from the mid-30s up. We know that when patients return unhappy with their vision about 10 years after a LASIK procedure, the chief suspects are presbyopia and cataract. So the answer is: “It's almost always the lens, not the LASIK.”
One of the biggest causes of vision changes after laser eye surgery is presbyopia. This is an age-related condition that occurs as the lens in the eye stiffens and hardens. This makes it more difficult for the eye to focus on items that are up close.
Those who are not in good general health.
A dry eye may not heal well and has a higher risk of post-surgery infection. Other conditions such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, glaucoma or cataracts often affect results.
Occasionally, a surgeon doesn't remove enough corneal tissue. As a result, the patient's vision, even after a reasonable healing period, is not fully corrected. When this happens, it's usually on nearsighted patients. To fully finish correction, you may need another LASIK procedure within a year of the first.
Is LASIK Eye Surgery Painful? Fortunately, LASIK eye surgery is not painful. Right before your procedure, your surgeon will place numbing eye drops into both of your eyes. While you may still feel a little bit of pressure during the procedure, you should not feel any pain.
The LASIK complication rate is only about 0.3%. The most commonly reported LASIK complications are infection or dry eye that persists for more than six months. Other complications include: Undercorrections occur when the laser removes too little tissue.
A -5 eye and a -7 eye are not much differently at risk, but both are significantly more at risk of retinal problems than a more normal, non-myopic eye. These are rare, though, so no cause for alarm.
The intraoperative complication rate of Laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) has been reported to be in between 0.7-6.6%. The most common is flap-related, after either with a traditional mechanical microkeratome or femtosecond (FS) Laser.
While the effects of LASIK surgery are permanent, the benefits can decrease over time. For most patients, the results of this surgery will last a lifetime. About 10-12% of patients nationwide will need an enhancement surgery because of anatomical changes to the eye/eyes.
Long-term complications from LASIK are very rare, but some side effects can persist for several months. In very rare instances, a side effect or complication may become permanent.
Visual Irregularities: Some LASIK patients report seeing a number of visual irregularities for months or years after the surgery. These irregularities can include blurry vision, the appearance of ghosts or other artifacts, halos and starbursts around lights, and a significant loss of the ability to see details.
Many people believe that after LASIK surgery, they will finally have 20/20 vision. However, this isn't always the case. In fact, some patients may still need to wear glasses or contact lenses for tasks like reading small print or driving at night.
Recovery can vary from person to person, however most people see 20/20 by the next morning after their LASIK procedure. Although the patient's vision is usually very good, that does not mean that healing is complete. It is common for healing to go on for weeks to months after the procedure.
Those over 40 years of age who underwent LASIK had an overall regression rate of just -0.05 D. There was also a significant difference as patients were categorized by gender. Over the 18-year follow-up period, women experienced a mean regression of -0.40 D; men experienced a mean regression of -0.08 D.
Even those over 40 or 50 years old can benefit from the procedure, which is an investment that is worth it compared to wearing glasses or contacts for the rest of their lives. LASIK after 40 can provide improved vision for a long time after the initial surgery, although it is important to have realistic expectations.
We generally perform LASIK on patients who are in the age range of 18-55. A refractive lens exchange is a great choice for patients who are 50 years or older who want to enjoy life without glasses, contacts, readers, or bifocals as well as stop the process of cataracts before they form.
While LASIK is safe and effective for people 18 years and older, the effects may not last when people get the procedure at younger ages. Most people experience vision changes in their teens and early 20s, which can undo the effects of LASIK over time. Vision tends to stabilize around the age of 25.