What makes someone a good LASIK candidate?
There are naturally many factors to consider. At Milwaukee Eye Care, we offer laser vision correction consultations visits at no charge for prospective patients. When you see us for this consultation visit, we look at the power of the glasses or contacts you currently wear to consider the type and magnitude of your correction. LASIK can correct myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism, but there are limits to the amounts that can be corrected.
We also perform a corneal mapping exam, measuring the curvature and thickness of each cornea to make sure there are no irregularities due to things like corneal scarring, keratoconus (irregular cone-shaped cornea), severe dry eyes, or other problems. If the cornea is too thin and LASIK is not an option, PRK may be more suitable as this procedure does not thin the cornea nearly as much as LASIK.
Age can also be a factor as LASIK is FDA approved for 18 and older, although ideally best to wait until the early 20s. If glasses have never been needed until over the age of 40 and the glasses are only for reading up close, you may not be a good candidate. This type of vision problem is called presbyopia and there is no simple solution to this problem with laser treatment.
Other factors that might prevent someone from having LASIK include amblyopia (“lazy eye”), cataracts, retinal disease, or other medical problems.
As long as these conditions are met and the needed correction is within the approved range, then you are in luck! With over 20 million LASIK procedures performed worldwide, it is a technology that has been proven to work.
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