6 Factors That Can Affect LASIK Candidacy

May 16th, 2019

Not everyone can get LASIK. While the surgery has a high success rate, there are certain factors you must meet. The only way to know if you’re a LASIK candidate is to have a LASIK consultation.

There are many factors considered including health, corneal thickness, age, and more. Want to have an idea about if you’ll be a good LASIK candidate? Keep reading to find out!

Medical History

If you have an autoimmune disorder that affects your ability to recover, you can’t get LASIK. The same is true if you have diabetes that is not under control.

If this is the only factor standing in your way of LASIK, you may be able to undergo LASIK when it’s under control.

Eye Health

Before LASIK, you must have healthy eyes. If you have any eye conditions, they will affect your LASIK candidacy.

This includes dry eye! Yes, to get LASIK, your dry eye must be under control first.

Having LASIK with eyes that are already dry is anything but safe. If you’ve ever had scarring from injuries on your eyes that may also affect your candidacy.

Vision Stability

You must have a steady prescription before you qualify for LASIK. This means your prescription must be stable for at least a year without any changes to your vision. If your eyes change after LASIK, the procedure becomes pointless.

Age

LASIK is only something that you can get if you are 18 years of age or older. Many LASIK surgeons recommend waiting until your mid-twenties to get LASIK.

Your vision fluctuates while you’re young due to hormones. There is no age limit of how old you can be when you get LASIK, as long as your eyes are healthy enough.

Pregnancy

One of the biggest changes to your body is pregnancy. You may not realize it, but pregnancy can change your vision.

Thank those constantly changing hormones for this. That means that if you want LASIK, you should wait to have it until you’ve finished nursing.

If you want more children, hold off on LASIK. It’s likely that if you get pregnant again, your vision could change again. The best thing to do is have LASIK once you’re sure you won’t have any more children.

Corneal Thickness

LASIK works by removing corneal tissue and reshaping the cornea. When reshaped, this allows the cornea to focus light the correct way.

It makes sense that the surgeon will need enough tissue to work with so that it can heal. If you have thinner than normal corneas, LASIK becomes dangerous for you.

This is why corneal thickness is part of the LASIK candidacy process. With thinner corneas, removing any corneal tissue could result in severe complications.

Other vision correction surgeries can get around this issue. PRK is often used as a substitute.

This surgery removes the top layer of cornea instead of creating a flap. This results in a longer recovery time, but the layer will heal over.

Ready to find out if you could be right for LASIK? Schedule a LASIK consultation at Laser Eye Center in Huntsville, AL today!