Am I too old for LASIK vision correction?
A week doesn’t go by that I don’t get asked by a patient whether they’re too old to get LASIK. There seems to be a common misconception that there’s an age limit to be a good candidate for LASIK. And that’s simply not the case. In fact, the only age restriction is that you must be over the age of 18 to undergo LASIK vision correction.
The fact is that, just like the rest of our body, our eyes are continuously changing as we age. That’s why people under 18 years old aren’t recommended to undergo LASIK eye surgery because their vision hasn’t yet fully stabilized. In fact, we occasionally advise some patients to wait until their mid-20’s before considering LASIK as a result of their eye examination during their complimentary LASIK evaluation
Can vision changes after 50 disqualify me from LASIK eye surgery?
The good news is that there is no age limit for LASIK if your eyes are healthy. We have treated patients across a wide age range with great success, including patients in their 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond. That said, there are special considerations involved when planning laser vision correction for people over 40 because this is a time in which the eyes are likely to begin to change once again.
LASIK for older patients
People over age 40 are at higher risk for presbyopia (also known as reading vision or age-related farsightedness), which is a natural process of the aging eye that causes difficulty with near vision. Older patients lose flexibility in the lens of the eye, resulting in blurred close-up vision needed to read, see photos or work on the computer. These patients require prescription reading glasses to compensate for their near vision loss.
The good news is that presbyopia doesn’t rule you out as a candidate for LASIK surgery. We offer Monovision LASIK for presbyopia patients. With the Monovision LASIK technique, your surgeon corrects each eye to a different prescription: your dominant eye is treated to correct distance vision and your other eye is treated to correct close-up vision. The result is that your far and near vision is improved with less dependency on prescription glasses.Prior to surgery, we can demonstrate Monovision to patients using contact lenses to simulate what they’ll experience with one eye corrected for near vision and the other eye for far vision. In fact, many patients in their 40s already use monovision contact lenses to decrease their dependence on eyeglasses and are pretty comfortable with it.
To be clear, Monovision LASIK patients would only require reading glasses to avoid eye fatigue if they are spending long periods of time reading or doing computer work that would likely tire out the eyes. However, for most day to day near vision tasks reading cell phone texts, restaurant menus, and checking emails, Monovision LASIK can be an excellent option to reduce prescription eyewear dependency.
People over age 55 can begin to develop cataracts that may eventually cause changes in vision due to lens clouding. When cataracts develop, there are other options better suited than LASIK to improve your vision. For those who have already undergone cataract surgery and would like laser vision correction surgery, the good news is that prior cataract surgery doesn’t disqualify you from undergoing LASIK.
Who should not have LASIK eye surgery?
The bottom line is that LASIK candidacy has just three basic requirements: to have a stable vision prescription for at least one year, to have no eye diseases and to be in good general health.
This last point doesn’t necessarily mean perfect health, but rather healthy eyes with no medical condition that affects your eyes. The best way to determine this is to speak to one of our LASIK specialists to determine whether your health condition is compatible with LASIK eye surgery.
So, if there’s no disqualifying LASIK eye surgery age, what factors disqualify you from having LASIK?
- Eye diseases: such as cataracts, glaucoma, keratoconus, corneal diseases, amblyopia, and severe dry eye syndrome
- Changing vision: your prescription must be stable for at least one year prior to surgery
- Severe nearsightedness or farsightedness: if you are one of the very few people with refractive errors of -12 diopters or greater, laser eye surgery might not be the best option
- Very thin corneas: If you have been told that your corneas are very thin, you might be a more appropriate candidate for another laser vision correction procedure known as PRK or LASEK
- Certain medical conditions affecting your sight such as diabetes and autoimmune disorders, or which require you to take medications that impair wound healing (like steroids)
- Eye injuries or infections: untreated infections and certain eye injuries are disqualifiers
- Pregnancy and nursing: LASIK isn’t appropriate during this time because hormonal fluctuations can cause temporary vision changes
Prior to surgery, LASIK patients who wear contact lenses are instructed to discontinue lens wear for one to two weeks (if they’re soft) or three to four weeks (for hard lenses) in order to prepare their corneas for surgery.
No matter what your age, if you are wondering whether LASIK vision correction might be appropriate to address your vision needs, you owe it to yourself to get accurate information from an eye health professional who can address your individual situation and answer all of your questions. It’s never too late to get rid of your eyeglasses 😉
Why Choose Assil Gaur Eye Institute for your LASIK surgery
At AGEI we use a proprietary LASIK surgical protocol that combines the latest laser technology with gold standard techniques to achieve vision correction results that, we have found, were previously unachievable.
The founder of AGEI, Kerry K. Assil, MD, is regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts in refractive surgery, having made significant advances in the LASIK field including numerous inventions, dozens of articles and textbook chapters on LASIK, and lectures at international medical symposia.
He has trained thousands of eye surgeons on LASIK techniques. Including his partner, Dr. Avneet K. Sodhi Gaur. Dr. Assil has appeared regularly on major television network news programs to teach the general public about refractive surgery.
Why Choose Assil Gaur Eye Institute for your LASIK?
The eye care professional team of ophthalmologists and optometrists at Assil Gaur Eye Institute (AGEI) offer world class eye care treating dry eye conditions, cataracts, glaucoma, LASIK and laser eye correction as well as a wide variety of cornea and retinal conditions.
At AGEI, you will experience a state-of-the-art health care facility that brings together revolutionary technologies with experienced vision care professionals. Our goal is to help you achieve your personal best vision.
Please call 866-945-2745 or visit us here to make an appointment online to learn more about what LASIK surgery can do for you and to determine whether you are an appropriate candidate for LASIK.
At Assil Gaur Eye Institute we take our patients’ safety seriously. Our facility’s Covid-19 patient safety procedures exceed all CDC recommendations. Masks are required in our institutes at all times.
We are conveniently located for patients throughout Southern California and the Los Angeles area at locations in or near Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, West Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Culver City, Hollywood, Venice, Marina del Rey, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, and Downtown Los Angeles, to name a few.
