How to Know Whether You Should Get Eye Correction Surgery

Eye correction surgery, which is commonly referred to as Lasik (Laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis)surgery, has been around since the 1980s. This type of surgery can help or correct problems such as near sightedness, far sightedness and astigmatism. However, surgery cannot correct all vision problems. Read the steps below to find out if you are a good candidate for eye correction surgery.

 Steps

    1
    Consult an ophthalmologist, preferably one who has eye correction surgery experience. Get a thorough eye exam and discuss the results with your doctor. You may not qualify for corrective eye surgery if:
        You have glaucoma.
        You have macular degeneration.
    2
    Don’t expect the surgery to correct multiple vision problems. There is no procedure that can correct both near sightedness and far sightedness. However, it is possible to have a procedure called monovision where one eye is corrected for one condition and the other eye is corrected for another condition.
    3
    Understand the risks. According to the Mayo Clinic there are some risks involved even though eye surgery is a low-risk procedure. Surgery complications include under correction and over correction. Obviously, over correction (when too much tissue is removed) is harder to fix. Uneven tissue removal can cause astigmatism, which would require additional surgery to correct.
    4
    Be aware of the side effects. Like any surgical procedure, there are often side effects. You may or may not experience them, but be sure to ask your doctor what you can expect. Some of the side effects of eye correction surgery are:
        Dry eyes
        Difficulty with night vision
        Incomplete healing of the eyes and risk of infection due to autoimmune disease or immunodeficiency disease.
    5
    Don’t make eye surgery your first option. The best results for corrective eye surgery are for people who have worn corrective lenses with a stable prescription strength for two or more years.
    6
    Assume you will still need glasses. According to Consumer Reports,more than half of the people who have Lasik eye surgery still have to wear glasses at least some of the time.
    7
    Expect to pay out-of-pocket. Most insurance policies don’t cover eye correction surgery because it is considered an elective medical procedure. Weigh the cost of the surgery against the cost of replacing eyeglasses or contact lenses during your lifetime. In the long run, the surgery may be cheaper.

Tips

    Eye correction surgery is a good option if you wear contact lenses for more than 10 hours every day. Contact lenses can cause complications when worn for long periods, and they can present a constant problem for you; whereas eye correction surgery is a one-time, low-risk vision treatment.
    Presbyopia, a condition that causes aging people to have difficulty with fine print, is not usually helped much by eye correction surgery.

Warnings

    Your cornea and pupil size will have some effect on the success of eye corrective surgery.
    Side effects such as halos, double vision and starbursts occur more often when eye correction surgery is performed on someone with large pupils.
    Eye corrective surgery is not performed on anyone under the age of 18 because vision is still changing during the teen years.
    Hormonal changes affect vision during during pregnancy; it is not advisable to have eye correction surgery while pregnant.