Is LASIK Right for You? Take the LASIK Candidacy Quiz
The primary objective of your LASIK consultation is to determine whether you are a candidate for laser eye surgery, and if so, which procedure is most appropriate for you. We will educate you about why LASIK surgery is, or is not right for you, and about the benefits and risks associated with this type of surgery.
Before LASIK eye surgery, we will help you understand what results you can reasonably expect after the procedure, given your particular prescription and individual circumstances. Remember that scheduling a consultation DOES NOT obligate you to move forward with the procedure.
Candidates for Laser Eye Surgery Should Generally Meet the Following Criteria:
- Age: Candidates must be at least 18 years old.
- General health: LASIK candidates should not have certain health problems, including uncontrolled diabetes. In addition, candidates should notify their eye doctors of any medication or other condition that compromises the immune response.
- Eye health: Candidates should be free of certain eye diseases, including keratoconus, severe cataracts, and certain retinal and optic nerve diseases.
- Eye problems: LASIK patients should make their eye doctor aware of certain eye problems, including amblyopia (lazy eye), strabismus (muscle imbalance), or any recurrent, residual or active eye conditions that may influence healing. Other conditions that should be discussed with the doctor include keloid scarring with previous surgical healing, back problems and claustrophobia. Please make your eye doctor aware of any mental health conditions, as these may also affect your LASIK surgery or recovery.
- Serious eye injury: Patients should not have any current eye infections or serious eye injuries.
- Pregnancy: LASIK candidates should not be pregnant when undergoing the LASIK procedure. Hormones may affect the stability of your prescription, so pregnant women should wait until after their pregnancy to pursue LASIK surgery.
- Corneal thickness plays an important role in determining proper candidacy for LASIK. Your team of LASIK doctors and eye care professionals will be carefully analyzing your corneal thickness prior to your LASIK procedure to make sure you are a safe candidate for the procedure.
Determination for LASIK candidacy is made on an individual basis, taking your medical history, prescription and other health factors into consideration. We recommend that you take advantage of TLC’s free pre-procedure consultation at one of our laser vision eye surgery centers. This consultation, or a similar screening from a TLC-affiliated doctor, is necessary before having LASIK eye surgery at TLC Laser Eye Centers.
If the eye doctor determines you are not a good LASIK candidate today, you may still be a good candidate in the future. The technology for laser eye surgery is constantly being enhanced, enabling people with higher and more complex prescriptions to become safe LASIK candidates over time. Laser eye surgery is not for everyone, however, and some patients (including those with certain diseases of the eye involving the cornea and retina) may never be safe medical candidates for the procedure. The best way to find out is by having a thorough, complimentary, no-obligation LASIK consultation at TLC Laser Eye Centers.
Modern LASIK can safely treat severe degrees of nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism, but LASIK is not right for everyone. While the goal of LASIK eye surgery is to reduce dependency on glasses or contact lenses, having LASIK cannot guarantee 20/20 vision. Fortunately, the vast majority of patients are both grateful for and awed by the dramatic improvement in visual acuity (or sharpness) they are able to achieve with LASIK eye surgery.
A patient’s candidacy for LASIK, depends on an evaluation of the patient’s eyes, expectations and lifestyle by an experienced optometrist or ophthalmologist. Consult a TLC-affiliated eye doctor for a free LASIK consultation to determine if you are a safe LASIK candidate. If your eye doctor is not trained in laser vision correction, your local TLC center can also refer you to an experienced LASIK doctor in your community.
Wearing Contact Lenses Before LASIK – What You Need to Know
When considering LASIK surgery, or any other kind of laser vision correction procedure, it’s important to understand how the everyday use of contact lenses can affect the procedure:
- Long-term wear: Continued long-term wear of contacts can alter the shape of your corneas, creating an inaccurate measurement of the shape of your cornea and wavefront scan of your visual system. You should discontinue use of contact lenses for a period before surgery to allow your corneas to go back to their original shape.
- The Custom process: When undergoing Custom LASIK surgery, we map your eyes for the procedure. If your eyes are measured for your LASIK procedure before they have returned to their natural shape, the laser programming will not reflect your true visual state.
- Open communication: It is important to advise your optometrist/ophthalmologist about the length of time you have been using contact lenses and what type of contact lenses you are currently using.
