Good vision is essential for day-to-day activities. But certain refractive errors may cause vision related problems and thus may require one to use glasses or lenses. If you’re sick of wearing eyeglasses or contacts, or have trouble wearing one and want to feel normal then you might be considering LASIK eye surgery.
The outer layer of the eye known as cornea and the lens behind it causes refraction of light on the retina of the eye. These light signals are sent to brain that interprets these signals as images. For refraction the light must bend in proper angle. Refractive errors are caused when the light falling on the retina of the eye fails to bend properly causing blurred vision or near-sightedness known as myopia or farsightedness problems i.e., hyper myopia. To address these refractive errors glasses or lenses are used. A type of eye surgery called LASIK employs lasers beams to treat visual issues, particularly those brought on by refractive defects.
How effective is LASIK surgery?
In over 90% of cases, who underwent LASIK eye surgery it is found that they have proper eye vision restored after surgery. The vision restored was between the range of 20/20 and 20/40 and thus required no glasses or eye lenses. Though, 20/20 vision is not considered as the “perfect” vision but it is considered as an average healthy vision. According to studies, on an average 95% of patients who underwent LASIK eye surgery are happy with the surgery outcome. Thus, the success rates of the LASIK eye surgery are high.
Who should aim to undergo LASIK eye surgery treatment?
But the question that comes into mind is that can anyone prefer to opt LASIK eye surgery as the remedy. In general, persons who have a moderate amount of refractive error and further have no exceptional vision issues are the best candidates for laser eye surgery. The ideal person for undertaking LASIK eye surgery must satisfy the following requirements:
1. Should have good health with no auto-immune disease:
You might not be an ideal candidate for LASIK surgery if you have an autoimmune disorder or an any medical condition like degenerative condition that makes it more difficult for your body to heal and repair its cells. This may include medical conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogren’s disease, diabetes especially type 1 diabetes, and diseases like AIDS, among other conditions. Your capacity to recover following LASIK eye surgery may also be hampered by some drugs, such as immunosuppressants that suppress your immune system. Thus, having a good health is necessary for the Lasik surgery.
2. You should have healthy eyes
To undergo LASIK surgery, it is essential that you have healthy eyes and you don’t suffer from any set of eye disease that can hinder the healing abilities off the eyes. Some diseases like dry eye syndrome glaucoma conjunctivitis or an existing eye injury or cataract can make your condition worse and hence insert situation you cannot go for refractive eye surgery. Moreover, people with age related eye disorders like the changes that affect eye vision are not suitable for LASIK eye surgery.
3. Acceptable vision range:
Patients who have been diagnosed with high vision are not suitable for laser surgery. The acceptable vision range that can be corrected using LASIK surgery is-11.00 of near-sightedness wild plus 5.00 of farsightedness and 5.00 of astigmatism (blurred vision).
4. You should have non changing vision prescription
You must be about 21 years old and you should have a stable vision prescription that has not changed for at least past one year.
5. The candidate must have ideal cornea thickness.
Generally, in the LASIK eye surgery the part of the eye cornea is removed and this can be done if the cornea is thick enough. Thus, people with thinner cornea are not preferred for this surgery.
6. You should not be pregnant
Female patients who are pregnant or are breastfeeding the child are required to delay the surgery after pregnancy and breastfeeding. It is because during pregnancy and breastfeeding the hormonal levels in the body fluctuate which can impact healing and can have impact on corneal sensitivity.
7. Should have average sized pupils
LASIK eye surgery is not preferred in people with larger sized pupil as it may result in the increase of the side effects like halos, poor night vision, ghost images, glares etc. Thus, an ideal person to undergo LASIK eye surgery must have normal sized pupils.
8. Should be avoided in uncontrolled diabetes as it can cause delay in healing, elevated blood vessels in retina, increased risk of infections and in few can cause diabetes retinopathy.
9. Avoid if you are taking medicines for ocular side effects like isotretinoin, or taking medicines for acne treatment, or medicines for arrythmia. These medicines may affect the efficiency of LASIK treatment and can impact the healing of cornea. It can in turn effect vision.
9. Avoid LASIK eye surgery if you are under immunosuppressive medicines as these medicines can increase the chances of infection and can cause further health issues.
10. If you are active in profession like boxing or martial arts wherein the chances of receiving blows on faces and eye are possible.
Conclusion
LASIK eye surgery is a highly successful eye surgery that helps in rectifying the refractive errors. The outcome of the surgery depends on the refractive error of the patient, patient general health condition and age. The LASIK eye surgery can help you to get rid of lenses and glasses. But there are side effects and contradictions to this surgery. Consulting with expert ophthalmologist and taking sound health advice is the best way before going for the surgery.