Although LASIK surgery can help correct vision and eliminate the need for glasses or contacts, it is not a procedure fit for everyone. Considering it has a great track record and an increasing amount of people go through it, LASIK, or laser assisted in situ keratomileusis surgery, can have more cons than pros depending on the patient.
LASIK surgery is a refractive eye surgery that involves creating a hinge like flap in the outermost layer or the cornea, and then using a laser to reshape the inner cornea to help correct vision. LASIK can be the right procedure for those suffering from myopia, hyperopia, or astigmatisms. Myopia is when your vision is generally fine, but there is an issue with the focus things far away, causing blurriness. Hyperopia is just the opposite; when patients can see everything fine through long distances, but something nearby can appear blurry. Astigmatism is a more severe condition, where everything is blurry regardless of whether one is looking at something up close or from far away. These can all be discovered through a series of test and a pre operation evaluation, which happens to be free at Eye Michigan.
A visual condition that is debatable when it comes to determining you a valid patient for the LASIK surgery is presbyopia, where one has difficult reading things in small print and doing other close up activities. People with this defect can be fit for the surgery, but there is a risk because the procedure can help clear up long distance vision, but can make your nearsightedness even worse. With this lies the option of monovision, where the surgery is only performed on one of the eyes, giving you double perspective with one eye being good with long distance and the other good for nearsighted vision. Monovision, like the procedure itself, is not for everyone and can be difficult to adjust to.
If any questions remain, they can be further discussed with our ophthalmological experts at Eye Michigan.