Is LASIK Right for You?
LASIK is a very popular eye surgery, and for good reason. It rids you of the need for spectacles or contact lenses. However, it cannot solve every eye problem, and may even worsen some. Here are some tips to help you decide if LASIK surgery is right for you.
Things to Consider Before LASIK Surgery
LASIK is a rather good option for correcting nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism – a condition where overall vision is blurry. The eye doctors use the excimer laser to reshape your cornea to help it focus better and give you clear vision. However, LASIK may not help the condition of presbyopia, which is the age-related loss of the ability to see up close.
There are also other considerations that you need to take into account before you go for LASIK surgery Rochester. If you have irregular or thin cornea, or if you have keratoconus – where your cornea becomes thin and then bulges out like a cone – you should not undergo LASIK. This surgery is also not recommended for pregnant women, people who have to do precision jobs or take part in contact sports. In addition, there is a limit to the level of nearsightedness that can be corrected. Patients above -10.0 diopters of nearsightedness should pursue another surgery.
LASIK can worsen dry eyes or diminished night vision in some patients. If you already have some an autoimmune condition, then complications may also increase.
What are the alternatives?
If you have issues such that you cannot undergo LASIK surgery Rochester, then don’t lose hope. There are alternatives available. For example, if you have Presbyopia, you may choose to have monovision correction with LASIK or contact lenses. If you have thin corneas or dry eyes, you might consider Photorefractive Keratectomy (PRK) as an option.
Medium to low degrees of near and farsightedness are treatable through PRK. It is also able to treat farsightedness with no astigmatism, or nearsightedness with astigmatism. Healing time and the time taken for achieving the desired vision are both longer in PRK, though. It also involves more discomfort.
Some other alternatives also exist. You may consider implantable lenses or intra-corneal ring segments. Intra-corneal rings are two semicircular plastic rings that are placed inside the cornea to flatten it. This causes better focus in nearsighted patients.
Whatever your choice for correcting your eye problems, do consult your doctor before going through with LASIK surgery. A certified LASIK surgeon should be able to provide you with alternatives to LASIK and help you decide which procedure is the proper, safe one to decrease your dependance on glasses.
