Are You Ever Too Old For LASIK?
January 28th, 2020
People all over the world suffer from refractive errors. Most with refractive errors have one thing in common: they don’t like glasses and they don’t like contacts.
If you are among this number, know that you are not alone. But if you are older, you may be used to being ineligible for certain procedures that you’d like to get.
Your age may cause procedures to be too risky to perform. But LASIK is not one of these surgeries.
It is a safe procedure for even the oldest patients. The main thing is you have to meet other LASIK candidacy requirements.
Wondering if you might qualify for LASIK, even if you are older? Keep reading to find out more!
LASIK Candidacy Requirements
Age: Are You Old Enough?
With LASIK, your age is important, but you have to be old enough to get the procedure. The FDA mandates that you must be at least 18 years old before you can get LASIK.
Even if you are 18 years old, most LASIK surgeons recommend waiting. If you are older, being old enough to get LASIK is not an issue you will have to deal with.
Vision Stability
Your vision must remain the same for at least a year or more. Having unstable vision that fluctuates will not make you a good LASIK candidate.
The last thing you want is to have vision that is still changing after you get LASIK. Your vision may fluctuate if you are pregnant or going through puberty because of changing hormones.
General Health
You need to be in good health before you can get LASIK. To prove this, you must provide your full medical history to your doctor.
They will be able to rule out any family history or problems you may develop later on. Being in good health is important for LASIK because you need to be able to recover after LASIK.
Eye Health
Like being in good health is necessary, your eyes also need to be in good shape to get LASIK. This means that you cannot have any eye diseases or scarring.
You also need to have thick enough corneas to safely have LASIK. This is something that’s measured during your LASIK consultation.
If your corneas happen to be too thin, LASIK is not the right procedure for you. LASIK involves reshaping the cornea to correct refractive errors. If you have thinner corneas, this becomes unsafe to perform.
How Does LASIK Work?
LASIK works by reshaping your cornea so that light will focus inside of the eye. This is a permanent procedure.
Reshaping the cornea and correcting refractive errors happens by removing tissue from the middle of the cornea. This helps to reshape the cornea. This is why having enough corneal tissue is so important.
The tissue must be removed from the middle layer of the cornea, as that is the thickest layer. To get to this layer, the surgeon creates a flap in the top layer of the cornea.
During the flap creation, you may feel some slight pressure, though it is not painful. After removing the tissue from the precise locations of the cornea, the flap is then closed. At this point, recovery can start.
Think that you may be a good candidate for LASIK? Schedule a LASIK consultation at the Laser Eye Center in Huntsville, AL and find out for sure!
