LASIK — Am I a LASIK Candidate?
To be a candidate for LASIK surgery you must meet the following criteria:
- LASIK candidates should be at least 18 years old
- Your vision must be stable (little to no change in prescription) for at least one year prior to LASIK surgery
- You must have gone one year without an eye infection or injury
- You must not suffer from an autoimmune disorder such as Lupus or HIV
- You must have no history of herpes infection in the eye — LASIK may induce a recurrence
- There must be no scarring on the cornea to be considered a LASIK candidate
- You must understand the risks involved with LASIK surgery and have realistic expectations regarding the outcome
- LASIK candidates should not be pregnant or nursing at the time of surgery because hormones may cause fluctuation in refractive error
- People who suffer from extreme dry eye syndrome may not be good LASIK candidates
Evaluation by an Ophthalmologist
To find out if you’re a candidate for LASIK, you will need a thorough evaluation by one of Wolfe Eye Clinic’s experienced surgeons. At your consultation, your surgeon will determine if you are a good candidate for laser vision correction and discuss in detail the procedures along with their benefits and risks. The consultation process will help you to understand what you can reasonably expect from the procedure. You will also have the opportunity to meet our staff — many of whom are refractive surgery patients. In addition, we have a full-time LASIK Patient Service Representative (800-237-5393) to answer any additional questions that may arise before or after your consultation.
At the time of your evaluation, you will also receive a comprehensive eye examination. This entire process will take a couple of hours. Your eyes will be dilated so that accurate measurements of your level of nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism can be determined. A computerized topographic map will be made of the corneal surface. This advanced technology plots curvature measurements from 8,000 points taken from the corneal surface. This information enables more accurate surgical planning and allows us to determine if there are any microscopic abnormalities that would exclude you from having LASIK surgery.
Ultrasonic measurements of the corneal thickness will also be obtained. These allow us to determine the exact thickness of the cornea with accuracy of up to one thousandth of a millimeter. Pupil measurements will also be taken. The examination will also allow us to check for glaucoma, cataract and retinal disease. If the surgeon determines that you are a good LASIK candidate, you may then choose to schedule surgery at any time.
To schedule a LASIK evaluation at any of Wolfe Eye Clinic’s seven main offices in Ames, Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, Fort Dodge, Marshalltown, Waterloo or West Des Moines, call Wolfe Eye Clinic’s LASIK hotline at 1-800-237-5393 to speak with our LASIK Patient Service Representative.
