Who is suitable for laser eye surgery?

Laser eye surgery is a safe and effective way to treat short sightedness (myopia), long sightedness (hyperopia) and astigmatism (cylinder) and the procedure is safer than ever thanks to the improvements and advancements in technology over the last few decades.  Around 100,000 laser eye procedures are performed in the UK each year, using several approved eye laser correction procedures.

 

However, laser eye surgery is not for everyone and an initial consultation at one of the laser eye clinic in your area will establish a person’s suitability for the procedure.  Primarily, patients should be in good health and have reasonable vision in both eyes.  As a general rule patients should be over 21 and have a consistent eye prescription in the 12 months leading up to the operation.  In some laser eye clinics, patients aged from 18 will be considered provided they have a steady prescription for the preceding two years (In young patients, laser correction may be ineffective as the eye may not have finished growing and the prescription could alter significantly.

 

The sight prescription must be within a recommended safe range.  For LASIK procedures this is –1.00 to –10.00 (myopia) or +1.00 to +6.00 (hyperopia) including any astigmatism.  For people with higher prescriptions, refractive errors can be corrected by planting an Intraocular lens (IOL) into the eye, (rather than using eye laser surgery to reshape the cornea) but assessment may vary from clinic to clinic and the initial consultation will reveal the individual’s options.   

 

Unfortunately, patients who are pregnant, have had a Herpes viral infection of the cornea, are taking certain medications which interfere with the healing process (eg drugs used during chemotherapy), have a significant ocular abnormality/keratoconus (conical cornea) in one or both eyes, or severe dry eye disease will not be able to have laser eye surgery.  There are some other conditions which will affect suitability for surgery, for example patients with diabetes mellitus, SLE, rheumatoid arthritis, connective tissue disorder or other auto-immune diseases and these will need to be individually assessed. 

If you are looking for a quote for laser eye surgery, or want more information about treatment in  one of the laser eye clinics in your local area, you can complete the Laser Eye Surgery Enquiry Form. Your enquiry will be forwarded to a maximum of three clinics or providers of eye laser treatment who partner with the Private Healthcare UK web site.