Who is suitable for LASIK treatment?

Who is suitable for LASIK? So in general, patients who are short-sighted, long-sighted, or who have astigmatism can all be treated with LASIK. Now, there are limits. There are cut off values, and these are not hard and fast. It’s a combination of the degree of the prescription, so how high a prescription you have; how thick your cornea is; and the curvature or steepness of your cornea. And in general, a combination of those three factors are what determine whether or not it is safe to treat your prescription with LASIK.

The most common condition that prevents LASIK from being performed.

So what conditions prevent you from being able to have LASIK? The most common reason why we decline to perform LASIK on people is if they have a cornea – that is, the front, clear window – if the cornea is an abnormal shape or displays signs of weakness. In these patients, it is not safe to perform LASIK, because LASIK will weaken the cornea and cause it to warp out of shape. And that is not a very easy condition to treat, and therefore we avoid LASIK in those patients.

Other conditions that prevent LASIK from being performed.

There are some other conditions, as well, in which we refuse to perform LASIK. If patients have very thin corneas if patients have severe dryness in their eyes if patients have other eye issues, so other eye problems which LASIK will not correct. And finally, if patients have other systemic diseases, so particularly inflammatory or autoimmune diseases which are associated with dry eye or with inflammation in the tissues of the bodies, then it’s not safe to perform LASIK in those patients.

More about Alex J Shortt

Alex J Shortt is a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at Grange Eye Consultants. With many years of experience and expertise in Corneal surgery, Cataract surgery, and Refractive surgery, he is providing his patients with a wide range of treatment options. As he has worked as a consultant and trainer in advanced technologies for correcting vision for over 14 years, he has a broad knowledge of various eye conditions and can, therefore, find the best suitable solution for every individual client. Apart from working as an Ophthalmic Surgeon, Mr Shortt is also involved as an editorial board member of the Cochrane Collaboration’s Eyes and Vision Group and expert advisor to the European Medicines Agency.