Can You Get LASIK After Age 50?
Can you have Lasik over 50? Is LASIK surgery only for young people? Not necessarily. Each patient is different, therefore each patient is conditioned by a unique set of circumstances that must be evaluated before determining if laser eye surgery is the best option to treat your vision problems.
LASIK surgery is able to treat myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism at any age. However, your ophthalmologist will perform a series of exhaustive preoperative LASIK evaluations to determine if you are an ideal candidate for this procedure. The ophthalmologist will evaluate the health of your eye, as well as the regularity and thickness of the cornea.
Below we will discuss some eye health problems and diseases that may affect your candidacy for LASIK surgery.
Eye diseases and LASIK candidacy
The loss of vision due to eye diseases is more likely as we get older. The most common diseases that can diminish your vision after 50 years are cataracts, glaucoma, and macular degeneration. If your vision is significantly reduced due to an eye disease, to the point where you cannot even see clearly with the glasses, Lasik surgery Michigan is not an option for you.
Cataracts and LASIK candidacy
Cataracts cause a cloudy and blurred vision. In the early stages, the progression of the cataract can be detected due to frequent changes of prescription of lenses to maintain adequate vision. You must have a stable prescription for at least one year to qualify for LASIK. Therefore, if you have cataracts at an early stage, you can disqualify for the LASIK procedure, however, it may not be severe enough to require surgical removal.
During Michigan cataract surgery, the lens is removed and replaced by an intraocular lens implant. You should keep in mind that despite the sophisticated calculations, most patients still have a small amount of refractive error after surgery. This refractive error is usually so tiny that most patients have a clear vision without using prescription glasses. However, those patients who want more accurate vision correction should consider laser eye surgery after cataract surgery. Both LASIK and PRK are excellent laser eye surgery techniques that further improve your vision. Your surgeon will recommend the most appropriate form of Lasik in Michigan for you.
The candidacy of presbyopia and LASIK
If you are over 40, you probably suffer from presbyopia or difficulty seeing near objects and treat this condition with the use of reading glasses. However, the monovision LASIK procedure offers you a permanent solution. During the monovision procedure, your dominant eye is corrected for use as a distant vision eye, and your non-dominant eye is then corrected for near vision.
In those patients who suffered from myopia before the procedure, the non-dominant eye is slightly less corrected. If you were not Nearsighted before the procedure, your non-dominant eye will be corrected to be slightly myopic. The correction of the non-dominant eye will allow you a better reading and other jobs that require near vision, but you will see less well in the distance. You may find it uncomfortable at first to use one eye for distance vision and the other for near vision. However, as time passes, your brain will adapt to the processing of the images.
One month after the procedure, approximately 90 percent of patients feel satisfied with their vision. They can see clearly from close up and from a distance without the need to use glasses. Many ophthalmologists offer the patient a preoperative monovision test with contact lenses to make sure that the post-surgery adaptation is successful.
Age alone does not automatically disqualify you from receiving a Lasik Michigan procedure, however, there are many factors that affect your candidacy for Lasik. Only an evaluation by a qualified LASIK professional will tell you if the laser vision correction is right for you and what technique is recommended for your treatment. On a side note, check out SurgeonGate.org to find the best plastic surgery in Michigan.
The Yaldo Eye Center specializes in Lasik eye surgery with the leading Michigan laser eye surgery specialist, Dr. Yaldo. We use the latest technology in laser eye surgery to ensure that you or your loved one receives only the best we can offer. We offer financing options and consultations at our Farmington Hills and Garden City clinics.
