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Does wearing spectacles or contact lenses seem cumbersome to you? Are you considering LASIK eye surgery – one of the most prevalent and successful refractive surgery techniques? I suggest you hold your horses and rather request the valuable assistance of an expert surgeon, since LASIK eye surgery is not for everyone. Read on to see whether you are a potential candidate for LASIK surgery.

An important aspect to bear in mind while considering LASIK surgery is the patient’s age. Since the vision typically experiences a continuous change until the age of 18, you must be at least 18 years old (21 for some laser ablations) to undergo LASIK. Furthermore, if you are myopic, you should defer LASIK awaiting your refraction to stabilize, since myopia may continue to increase until a patient’s mid to late 20s.

Pregnant or nursing mothers are advised against undergoing LASIK, though they might go for LASIK at a later stage in life. Also, you must not be taking certain prescription drugs, such as oral prednisone or Accutane. To be a potential LASIK candidate, your eyes must be healthy with a stabilized refraction. Moreover, LASIK is typically not recommended for patients with herpes infections of the eye, diabetes, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, glaucoma, or cataracts.

LASIK is not a panacea for all vision anomalies. You must have realistic expectations while you consider LASIK eye surgery. Consult your surgeon to check out if you are a potential candidate for monovision. LASIK can be used to impart monovision, that is, one eye corrected for near vision and the other for distant vision. The crucial aspect is to adjust to this particular type of vision correction. If you can do the same, your dependency on eyeglasses or contact lenses may be eliminated.

It is imperative that you discern whether you are a potential candidate for LASIK surgery or not. You must weigh the pros and cons before undergoing surgery. If you are happy wearing contact lenses or eyeglasses in order to compensate for the refractive error, and you certainly don’t believe that wearing eyeglasses cramps your style, then you could very well forego LASIK surgery. After all, LASIK is a surgical procedure and hence it’s bound to have associated risks and complications.

The complexity of the LASIK surgery procedure is often obscured by the office-like milieu of the surgery room, the fact that it takes only a scant few minutes to accomplish the procedure, and the fact that the patient experiences virtually no pain. But, LASIK is in fact a complex surgical procedure with associated complications and risks, and it is certainly not apt for everyone. In order to determine your suitability, and to avoid potential LASIK complications, the best way is to get screened and tested prior to undergoing surgery.

Before the surgery, the patient’s corneal surface is examined with a computer-controlled scanning device. A topographic map of the cornea is created to determine irregularities in the shape of the cornea and also help detect astigmatism. Such preoperative examination is crucial in determining whether the patient is a viable LASIK candidate or not. Comprehensive testing and screening is helpful in avoiding LASIK problems at a later stage, since an inappropriate subject can be ruled out at the outset.

Laser eye surgery has its inherent limits as to how much vision correction it can accomplish. Patients with gravely poor eyesight are not apt for LASIK surgery. The limits prescribed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rule out those patients with more than -14 diopters of myopia, more than +6 diopters of hyperopia, or more than 6 diopters of astigmatism.

Another important consideration is that of the viable age for LASIK laser eye surgery. Since, the visual acuity constantly changes until the age of 18, eye surgeons prefer to operate patients who are well over 18 and whose prescription has completely stabilized. A simple refractive examination followed by a meticulous comparison with the patient’s early medical records would reveal whether the prescription has stabilized or not.

The eye surgeon should also carry out comprehensive tests of the eye anterior (front) and posterior (back). This is helpful in determining certain eye ailments that might rule out LASIK surgery as a treatment option. For instance, a posterior examination might identify eye diseases, such as ocular hypertension, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. All in all, prior screening and tests are valuable and rather indispensable in the sense that they determine the possible candidature of a patient for LASIK surgery.

Finding a LASIK surgery that you are confident of working with will ease your concerns about problems with LASIK eye surgery.

Patients considering LASIK eye surgery may come across medical jargon, such as “blade” and “bladeless” LASIK. To a layman, such terms might appear overwhelming. However, as a patient you must know the difference between the two surgery types, and the rewards and risks associated with each.

Traditional LASIK makes use of a microkeratome to cut a thin hinged flap in the cornea. The flap is then folded back to reveal the stroma – the middle layer of the cornea. A high precision laser, called the excimer laser, is used to reshape the corneal surface so as to correct any refractive error. The flap is then repositioned to act as a natural bandage. Since the microkeratome used to create a flap is in fact a surgical blade, the procedure is also known as blade LASIK.

A more recent innovation, introduced in 1999, makes use of a high energy laser (IntraLase or femtosecond laser) to create a flap during surgery. As opposed to traditional LASIK, IntraLase does not employ a surgical blade, and hence the procedure is often marketed as “bladeless” or “all laser” LASIK. The term itself has raged a debate among eye surgeons, as to whether it should be used in IntraLase advertisements or not. Several surgeons assert that the term “bladeless” implies that traditional LASIK, which makes use of a surgical blade (microkeratome), is a scarier proposition, when in fact it’s not.

The creation of the flap is an important part of the laser eye surgery procedure. It’s true that flap predictability is better with a laser flap, that is, with bladeless LASIK. Moreover, there is a reduced possibility of flap complications, such as partial flaps, flap dislocation, free flaps etc. However, an expert surgeon wielding a contemporary microkeratome can very well match the finesse of bladeless LASIK. Although the chances are rare, there is an issue of transient light sensitivity as well – a unique risk associated with bladeless LASIK. Moreover, the bladeless LASIK procedure costs an extra $300 per eye, when compared with traditional LASIK.

All said and done, LASIK itself is one of the safest refractive surgery procedure. Whether it’s blade or bladeless, it largely depends on the eye surgeon of your choice. If the surgeon has loads of experience carrying out microkeratome procedures, it’s better to have it that way. If otherwise, you may go in for the relatively new bladeless LASIK surgery.

Finding a LASIK surgery that you are confident about will be able to give you more information about blade and bladeless LASIK.