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Are You a Candidate for Lasik Eye Surgery?

Factors involved in being a good candidate:

Career Impact: Does your job prohibit refractive surgery?
Cost: Can you really afford this procedure?
Medical Conditions: Do you have an autoimmune disease or other major illness? Do you have a chronic illness that might slow or alter healing?
Eye Conditions : Do you have or have you ever had any problems with your eyes other than needing glasses or contacts?
Medications: Do you take steroids or other drugs that might prevent healing?
Stable Refraction: Has your prescription changed in the last year?
High or Low Refractive Error: Do you use glasses/contacts only some of the time? Do you need an unusually strong prescription?
Pupil Size: Are your pupils extra large in dim conditions?
Corneal Thickness: Do you have thin corneas?
Tear production: Do you have dry eyes?

Risks and Limitations:

Overtreatment or Undertreatment : Are you willing and able to have more than one surgery to get the desired result?
May still need reading glasses: Do you have presbyopia?
Results may not be lasting: Do you think that is the last correction you will ever need? Do you realize that long-term results are not known?
May permanently lose vision: Do you know some patients may lose some vision or experience blindness?
Dry eyes: Do you know that if you have dry eyes they could become worse, or if you don't have dry eyes before you could develop chronic dry eyes as a result of surgery?
Development of Visual Symptoms: Do you know about glare, halos, starbursts, etc., and that night driving might be difficult?
Contrast Sensitivity: Do you know your vision could be significantly reduced in dim light conditions?
Bilateral treatment: Do you know that additional risks of having both eyes treated at the same time?
Patient information : Have you read the patient information booklet about the laser being used for your procedure?

The Right Doctor

Experienced: How many eyes has your doctor performed LASIK surgery on with the same laser?
Equipment: Does your doctor use and FDA-approved laser for the procedure you need?
Informative: Is your doctor willing to spend the time to answer all your questions?
Long-term Care : Does your doctor encourage follow-up and management of you as a patient? Your preop and postop care may be provided by a doctor other than the surgeon.
Be Comfortable : Do you feel you know the doctor and are comfortable with an equal exchange of information?

Preoperative, Operative, and Postoperative

No Contact Lenses : Can you go for an extended period of time without wearing contact lenses?
Have a Thorough Exam: Have you arranged not to drive to work after the exam?
Read and Understand the Informed Consent : Has your doctor given you an informed consent form to take home and answered all your questions?
No Makeup Before Surgery: Can you go 24-36 hours without makeup prior to surgery?
Arrange for Transportation: Can someone drive you home after surgery?
Plan to Take a Few Days off to Recover : Can you take time off to take it easy for a couple of days if necessary?
Expect not to See Clearly for a Few Days : Do you know you will not see clearly immediately?
Know sights, smells, sounds of Surgery : Has your doctor made you feel comfortable with the actual steps of the procedure?
Be Prepared to take drops/medications : Are you willing and able to put drops in your eyes at regular intervals?
Be prepared to wear an eye shield : Do you know you need to protect the eye for a period of time after surgery to avoid injury?
Expect some pain/discomfort: Do you know how much pain to expect?
Know when to Seek Help : Do you understand what problems could occur and when to seek medical intervention?
Know When to Expect your Vision to Stop Changing : Are you aware that final results could take months?
Make Sure your Refraction is Stable before any Further Surgery : If you don't get the desired result, do you know not to have an enhancement until the prescription stops changing?

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