Is Laser Eye Surgery Safe for You? 5 Benchmarks for Safety…

It can be easy to regard laser eye surgery as trivial since it is a painless, outpatient procedure that does not take very long (especially LASIK surgery, which takes less than 20 minutes). However, it is complex, irreversible, and can lead to serious complications so that, before you commit, it is important to determine: Is laser eye surgery safe for you?

Laser eye surgery is safe for millions of Americans, but not all. Potential laser patients are classified into the following categories:

• Ideal candidate – who is most likely to have no post-surgery complications


• Less than ideal candidate – who has an increased risk for post-surgery complications


• Non-candidate – for whom laser surgery is completely unsafe due to preexisting conditions

Laser surgery is safe for you IF…

Your nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism fall within the range that laser surgery can correct.

The US Food and Drug Administration only does not allow refractive surgery for:

• Very Extreme Myopia (over –14.00 diopters)


• Extreme Hyperopia (over 6.00 diopters)


• Extreme Astigmatism (over 6.00 diopters)

You have a stable prescription.

Your eyes change in shape and size as you mature. But prescriptions generally stabilize by age 18, some by age 20. However, many do not stabilize and keep changing throughout a person’s 20s.

If your prescription has not changed in two years, then laser surgery is safe for you. A stable prescription lessens the possibility that vision correction by laser surgery will be negated soon after the procedure.

Your eyes are healthy.

The doctor will examine your anterior eye (your eye’s back portion) by having you put your chin on a chin rest, shining a light on the eye, and using a slit-lamp (biomicroscope) to look at your lids, cornea, iris, lens, etc. and check for abnormalities that could interfere with your laser surgery outcome.

The doctor will also examine your eye’s posterior by shining a light into the eye and looking through the pupil to check your retina, blood vessels, and optic nerve. The doctor will look for signs of diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, ocular hypertension, and other eye diseases.

You do not have a disease or are not taking medications that could interfere with healing after surgery.

Laser eye surgery is safe for you if you:

• Do not have autoimmune diseases – rheumatoid arthritis, lupus


• Do not have an immunodeficiency condition – HIV, diabetes


• Do not take medications that retard healing – steroids, retinoic acid

You are not engaged in a career or lifestyle where laser surgery is disallowed or considered unsafe.

Some professions (e.g., military service) disallow certain types of laser surgery so getting clearance from your employer is a good idea. On the other hand, it is a bad idea to undergo laser surgery if you participate actively in such contact sports as boxing, martial arts, wrestling, etc. where blows to your eyes and face are a common occurrence.