Lasik Eye Surgery

Question: How bad can my eye sight be before i cant do lasik eye surgery?

(Posted by: jj on 2009-12-27 09:20:22)

I am 16, and on each eye i have - 3.00 im scared that it will get worse and that it will be to bad before i get lasik, please help, how bad can the eyes get before i cant have lasik.?.?

Posted by: Dave on 2009-12-27, 12:13:57

First off, no honest LASIK surgeon is going to imply that you'll be able to throw away your glasses. After complaints from dissatisfied and disappointed patients, the FDA actually issued an advisory warned surgeons that they should not over-promise results, and advertise LASIK as a means to REDUCE dependence on glasses and contacts, not eliminate them. Fact is, eyes change throughout your entire life, so don't think of LASIK as a magic wand that will fix all that bothers you. As far as age, most surgeons in the US don't do LASIK on anyone under 21 (possibly waivered down to 18), because it's considered optional cosmetic surgery; in the unlikely event there's a bad outcome (like a sight-threatening infection, etc), both the surgeon and your parents would be suitable targets for a lawsuit! Why? Minors generally cannot give informed consent, esp. for optional surgeries that might result in harm. -3.00? That's still considered pretty low, in the spectrum of myopia, and it's rather unlikely you'd suddenly ramp up to high myopia at 16. Guess I'm saying that the extremely high myopes who are not good candidates for LASIK are typically -3.00 by age of 4. BTW, LASIK is not the only surgical option nowadays: we also have stuff like implantable contact lenses, etc. should you not be a good candidate for LASIK (e.g. eyes too thin, etc).

Posted by: Flying Dragon on 2009-12-27, 10:35:06

Usually they can fix up to about -8 or so, of course, this depends on the thickness of your corneas and other factors. Before they do the procedure, it is important that you wait until your vision is not getting worse for at least a year or preferably longer. So you usually can't get it done until your early 20's or so. I think it would be unlikely that your vision would be worse than -8 by then. You need to be patient, if they do it too soon, and your vision continues to get worse afterwards, and you need glasses again, you will have wasted your money, in as much as the whole idea of doing the procedure was to not have to wear glasses! Keep in mind that not everybody is a suitable candidate for the procedure.