LASIK is an increasingly popular procedure, and for a good reason. LASIK can give you 20/20 vision or better while also giving you freedom from glasses and contact lenses.
If you’ve decided you want to have LASIK, you may even be impatient to get started. But you have to go through a LASIK consultation with a certified professional before having the procedure.
The consultation is for your safety as it determines whether or not you’re a good candidate for LASIK surgery. If you’re not a good candidate, LASIK could be ineffective. Keep reading to learn more about the importance of having a LASIK consultation!
LASIK Consultation
You’ll be evaluated as a candidate when you go in for a LASIK consultation. This process includes a variety of eye exams, including checking your visual acuity tests and measuring your tear production.
LASIK evaluations are thorough so your surgeon can ensure that you have a safe and effective procedure. The consultation will also include going over your medical history.
By the end of the consultation, your surgeon should be able to determine whether or not you’re a suitable candidate for LASIK. During the consultation, you’ll also have the opportunity to ask questions about the procedure.
Even if you don’t qualify for LASIK, there may be alternative vision correction procedures that they can recommend.
Signs of a Good Candidate
While a LASIK consultation is necessary to have LASIK surgery, you can evaluate some things on your own before going in for a consultation.
Knowing some signs of a suitable candidate can save you time if you don’t meet one of the requirements. The main signs of a good LASIK candidate include:
- Being at least 18
- Being in good health
- Not having any other eye conditions like cataracts
- Having a stable prescription for at least a year that’s remained unchanged
- Having a prescription within -11.00 diopters of nearsightedness, +5.00 diopters of farsightedness, and 5.00 diopters of astigmatism
If you meet these requirements, it’s well worth having a LASIK consultation as you’re very likely to be a good candidate. Over 85% of people who go in for a consultation make good candidates for LASIK surgery. But remember, there will be a few things only an evaluation can determine.
Important Safety Factors
A few things can make having LASIK unsafe that you can’t evaluate on your own. One of the most significant ones is having thin corneas.
Having LASIK involves reshaping the cornea, which is the clear part of your eye located at its front. A LASIK surgeon creates a flap in the cornea, so it needs to be thick enough to accommodate this flap.
Making a flap could leave you with too little tissue and cause warping and visual aberrations if it’s too thin. Having thin corneas usually isn’t a medical problem, but it makes having LASIK dangerous.
Measuring the thickness of your corneas ensures that LASIK won’t harm your vision. There are other things that only an eye care professional can determine that may affect your safety, like how well your eyes produce tears and how big your pupils are.
The evaluation and consultation process is how your surgeon makes sure that LASIK surgery is right for you, so even if you could skip it, you wouldn’t want to!
Ready to find out if you’re a good LASIK candidate? Schedule your LASIK consultation at Shepherd Eye Center in Las Vegas, NV, today!
