The Health Blog

Preparing for any type of surgery is an unenviable and tedious process. You must make sure you have everything ready and your body in tip-top shape. While preparing for LASIK eye surgery may not be quite as difficult, there are some things you need to prepare for before LASIK.

You definitely need to stop wearing your contact lenses in the weeks leading up to your consultation before LASIK. Since the surgery is dependent on the shape and measurement of your cornea you must let it regain its shape. Lenses sometimes reshape the cornea themselves, causing problems with LASIK. Here are some FDA recommendations based on your contact lenses:

• Soft contact lenses should be removed and not worn for at least two weeks prior to your LASIK evaluation.
• Rigid gas permeable lenses should be removed and not worn for at least three weeks prior to LASIK evaluation.
• Hard lenses should be removed and not worn for at least four weeks prior to LASIK evaluation.

When you meet the doctor to discuss LASIK eye surgery you should let him know a few things about yourself. Let the doctor know about any past or present medical and eye conditions as well as all medications you are taking or are allergic to. It is important that you disclose all of this to your doctor before deciding if LASIK is right for you.

Since the introduction of LASIK laser eye surgery in the early 1990’s, millions of nearsighted patients have willingly opted to undergo the knife and laser treatment in order to correct their eyesight and reduce their need for glasses and contact lenses. While there is plenty of agreement on the short-term benefits of LASIK surgery, the big unknown has been whether the results of LASIK surgery would last long-term. The results of a newly published study should be reassuring for all LASIK patients, which reports favorable long-term outcomes of LASIK laser eye surgery.

The LASIK case study, which was published in the January 2008 issue of the American Journal of Ophthalmology, was completed by researchers from the Miquel Hernandez University Medical School in Spain . Following over one hundred LASIK patients over a ten year period, it is one of the largest and longest follow-up studies ever done on LASIK outcomes. The study showed that there was a very low rate of complications and a high rate of satisfaction with the LASIK procedure in the long-term.

LASIK (laser in-situ keratomileusis) is the most popular type of laser eye surgery for treating myopia, or nearsightedness. The LASIK procedure is a two step process. The first step is to cut a corneal flap. The second step is to reshape the corneal tissue exposed by the flap with an excimer laser to correct vision.

I have amblyopia and my consultant in ophthalmology said that I can have a LASIK treatment to correct it.

What should I consider before undergoing LASIK treatment

Risk-taking: One requirement before LASIK treatment is conditioning yourself to undergo the procedure. There are unavoidable complications in a percentage of patients, and there are no long-term data available for current procedures.

Costs: This procedure is costly. One has to have adequate monetary funds for the procedure itself, the preoperative and postoperative medications. Most medical insurance will not pay for refractive surgery, so cost could be an issue.

Sports and Activity: People who actively participate in contact sports like boxing, wrestling, martial arts or other activities in which blows to the face and eyes are a normal occurrence are not good candidates for the treatment. In my case, I was a member of a Karate-do club but since I entered medical school, I had to stop.