Are You a Good Candidate for Lasik?

Lasik eye correction surgery is fast becoming a popular choice for individuals that have to rely on glasses or contacts everyday. Many people can have Lasik vision correction surgery, but there are some people who should not/cannot. There are many factors to consider when looking into Lasik vision correction. Are you a good candidate for Lasik?

To fall into the category of being a good candidate there are a few widely accepted medical criteria for this surgery. The potential patient should be eighteen years of age or older, have a current prescription for eyeglasses or contacts, should be affected by one or more eye conditions and should not have eye disease.

All potential Lasik candidates should be over the age of eighteen and should have a prescription for at least two years. Those who are younger than eighteen can experience too many changes in the eye, which would affect the outcome of the Lasik procedure. Also, candidates should have a stable eyeglass or contact prescription for at least two years prior to surgery. This assures that the eye is not constantly changing, which could also negatively affect the outcome.

Candidates for this procedure should be affected by at least one eye condition. These eye conditions can include vision problems such as myopia-also called near-sightedness, astigmatism-which is blurred vision caused by an irregular shaped cornea, hyperopia- also known as far-sightedness or a combination of any of these. In addition, potential patients should have a sufficient corneal thickness so that the Lasik surgeon can create a clean corneal flap of appropriate depth. Pupils should also not dilate more than seven millimetres in the dark. This could indicate night vision problems such as halos or glare.

Another indicator of being a good candidate for Lasik eye correction surgery is that any type of eye disease should not affect the patient. This can include any surgery, whether it relates to the eye or not that can negatively affect the outcome or the healing process of the surgery. Potential patients should have no herpes infection in the eye since Lasik can cause a recurrence. Patients should not suffer from any autoimmune disorders such as Lupus, Hepatitis, or Crohn’s disease.

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