LASIK Surgery Overview

Several factors are analyzed before determining if you qualify for LASIK surgery. First, you must be at least 18 years old and in good health. Not just good overall health, but good eye health as well.

If you are pregnant or nursing LASIK surgery isn’t an option because this can alter your hormonal balance and the measured refraction of your eyes. Patients are also evaluated by what medications they are currently taking since they can interfere with LASIK surgery.

Eye health is fundamental to qualify for LASIK surgery. Your eye doctor will evaluate you for dry eyes, corneal thinness, pupil size (large pupils can sometimes disqualify you), and vision stability. Your prescription needs to have stayed the same (half a diopter or less) for at least one year before LASIK can be performed.

Also, LASIK is typically not recommended for people with presbyopia (near vision issues from aging eyes). Certain eye conditions (glaucoma and cataracts) can interfere with LASIK surgery and may disqualify you from surgery, as will eye infections and injuries.

The Mayo Clinic warns that LASIK may not be the right choice for candidates that suffer from:

• Autoimmune diseases such as lupus or HIV/AIDS
• Diabetes
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Depression
• Chronic pain conditions (irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, or migraines)

If you aren’t a candidate for LASIK, you have alternatives! LASIK is only one type of refractive surgery available to patients. Many patients find vision success with various LASIK alternatives. Some popular options include:

• Clear Lens Exchange or Refractive Lens Exchange. An artificial lens will replace your natural lens. The procedure takes about 30 minutes to complete and approximately 12 weeks to heal fully. Both treatments are outpatient procedures with high success rates.
• Implantable Contact Lenses (ICL). Patients with high myopia, and insufficient corneal thickness, benefit from an ICL procedure. It takes a mere 15 to 30 minutes to complete.
• Photorefractive Keratectomy (PRK). Refractive surgery that reshapes the cornea using laser technology so the light entering the eye is focused on the retina to produce clear images.

Visionary Eye Doctors will discuss your different options and alternatives that are most suitable for your vision needs.

LASIK results will vary based on the severity of your myopia, age, and other factors. That said, LASIK surgery improves uncorrected vision — one’s vision without wearing corrective lenses — in most patients who have the procedure. Over 90% of patients with low to moderate myopia will achieve 20/40 vision. Over half of all patients can expect to achieve 20/20 vision or better.

It is important to note that LASIK surgery cannot guarantee a perfect vision outcome. During your consultation, we will discuss reasonable expectations for your vision results based on your eye factors.

What we can guarantee is that you will experience greatly improved vision quickly after the procedure. In fact, most patients experience greatly improved vision the day of surgery. Vision will continue to improve over a period of two to three months.

Most patients who have LASIK surgery will not need to wear eyeglasses for their daily activities. Patients may need to wear reading eyeglasses if they are over the age of 40 and are experiencing presbyopia. Presbyopia results from the normal aging of the eye with or without LASIK surgery and affects near vision. Some patients may need a minimal eyeglass prescription for some activities.

Also, if you used bifocals before surgery, you would still need them unless you decide to have a monovision treatment where one eye is corrected for distance and the other for near vision.

Fast visual recovery characterizes this operation. Most patients achieve good vision the day of surgery and find that their eyes feel fairly normal within a day. However, vision can continue to improve, and best vision can still take two to three months to occur. If necessary, adjustments to the surgery, called enhancements, can be done.

LASIK is a surgical procedure that permanently removes corneal tissue to reshape your eye and improve refraction. These changes are permanent. As the eye continues to age and change, some patients will experience a slight regression of vision changes after LASIK. But vision won’t regress back to your prior full prescription.

By your mid-40s, it is common for near vision to change as the natural lens loses its elasticity (presbyopia). If this happens to you, you can undergo a second round of LASIK correction surgery if your eye doctor finds it to be necessary/helpful. Presbyopia is not something that can be prevented with LASIK. Presbyopia is a gradual, age-related loss of your eyes’ ability to focus on nearby objects and is extremely common. The condition can be corrected with nonprescription or prescription eyeglasses or contact lenses.

For patients looking for a reversible procedure, ICL surgery is completely reversible. Unlike LASIK, which removes part of your cornea, ICL does not alter the structure of your eye.

Although the vast majority of LASIK patients enjoy 20/20 vision, occasionally LASIK retreatment, or enhancement, is recommended to improve the vision. Fast recovery is typical for LASIK surgery patients, with each individual healing at different rates.

Most patients achieve good vision quickly, with continuing improvements over the next month or two. Given the unique nature of healing patterns and rates, recovery times vary. Your vision will be checked at frequent intervals and, if necessary and desired, an enhancement will be recommended to give improved results.

A common concern of patients learning about LASIK surgery is the worry that they will blink during surgery. You don’t need to worry about this. Blinking will not be able to occur during the actual procedure. The numbing eyedrops that are placed in your eyes prior to surgery will prevent any treatment discomfort and get rid of your urge to blink. We also use a special medical device (a lid speculum) to gently keep your eyes open. The combination of the drops and the speculum means that you will not be able to blink.

Also, advanced eye-tracking technology will measure any movement so that the laser will always be perfectly positioned for your eye before it performs your treatment. Blinking, sneezing, coughing, any of these activities will cause the laser to wait and adjust its position perfectly.

One of the most often asked questions about LASIK is if the treatment will hurt. The quick answer, LASIK laser eye surgery is typically painless. You may experience a sensation of pressure on the eye when the surgeon applies the microkeratome, the instrument the surgeon uses to create the corneal flap, but not pain. Neither the creation of the flap nor the laser causes pain.

Before LASIK surgery, topical anesthetic eyedrops will be administered to numb your eye so that you will not experience pain during the procedure.

Some patients report a scratching or burning sensation after their procedure. You may experience some mild discomfort after the anesthesia wears off, but nothing that should be worrisome. Most patients are advised to simply go home and take a short nap. After several hours, any discomfort should subside.

Yes, it is possible to have both eyes done (bilateral simultaneous LASIK surgery) at the same time. It’s actually very common. Since the procedure is very safe and only takes about 10 minutes per eye, most patients will opt to have them done at the same time. There are some circumstances in which it is preferable to do each eye separately and evaluate the results. Your eye doctor will work with you to come to the best decision.

Operating on your eyes at different times can present some unique challenges since your prescriptions between the two eyes will be unbalanced.

Sometimes, a LASIK enhancement procedure will be done to sharpen the vision in one eye following LASIK surgery. In this case, only one eye will be treated.

It depends on your occupation. Certain jobs that require intense clarity of vision (dentistry and surgery, for example) may be difficult to perform for one or two days. Most patients can return to work the next day, assuming their vision is adequate for their job.

However, some people may feel fatigued for a day or so following vision correction surgery. Your eye doctor will discuss the recommended time frame you may need to recover before returning to work.

You can resume most normal activities immediately after vision correction surgery. However, for at least two weeks, you will need to avoid activities that would cause perspiration to run into the eyes.

You should wear safety eyeglasses while playing contact sports whether or not you have had surgery. If you do not routinely wear safety eyeglasses, your surgeon may recommend wearing them for at least one month after LASIK surgery.

You will also need to avoid such activities as contact sports and swimming for several weeks.

No, patients may not drive immediately after a LASIK procedure. This is for a few reasons. One, it is common for patients to experience some discomfort and/or blurred vision for a few hours after vision correction surgery. Along with the blurred vision can come a sensitivity to light, which can cause the eyes to water.

Also, most patients receive a sedative prior to surgery to help them relax. Because of these factors, plan on recruiting a friend or family member to drive you home and don’t plan on driving for at least 24 hours following LASIK surgery.

The day after surgery, you will return to the laser center for your first post-op exam. During this visit, your eye doctor will evaluate your vision and ensure that you are legal for driving without corrective lenses. When your eye doctor has confirmed that your visual acuity meets the legal requirements, you may resume driving.

The cost of LASIK surgery or any other refractive procedure can vary based on the procedure that your eye doctor recommends. Laser vision correction procedures including LASIK are considered elective and not covered by insurance.

Health Savings Accounts and Flexible Spending Accounts can often be used for LASIK surgery. Just be sure to check with your provider to confirm coverage.

For financing your LASIK surgery procedure, Visionary Eye Doctors offers zero down, zero percent interest deferred financing options through CareCredit.

To learn more about the cost of LASIK eye surgery, contact our team at Visionary Eye Doctors.

First, anesthetic eye drops are applied to the eye. Your surgeon then uses a femtosecond laser to create a customized corneal flap designed with the precise construction that has been shown to improve safety and visual outcomes.

Then, the corneal flap is then gently lifted back by your surgeon to allow a second laser to reshape the cornea with a computer controlled laser programmed according to your unique corneal map.

Next, the inner layers of the cornea receive computer-controlled pulses of cool laser light. The laser light gently reshapes the inner corneal layer to improve and in many cases, eliminate the need for prescription.

Following the reshaping of the tissue, your surgeon carefully repositions and aligns the flap to its original position.

Protective shields are placed over the eye to prevent accidental rubbing as the flap heals naturally and securely over the next several hours.