Is LASIK Possible for Astigmatism?

Video Transcript

"I've been asked, Is Lasik for everyone? and the answer is, it is not. There are different things that has to be considered, when it comes to Lasik surgery. One is to be within the range of correction that can be done. One thing that is definitely a limitation, is how much astigmatism that you have. If you have more than three diopters of astigmatism, then you may not be a candidate. If you are higher than a -16, which is a very high amount of nearsightedness, you're not going to be a candidate. If you are higher than a 3 in hyperopia, you probably are not a candidate, and then the other thing that's very important, is because part of the middle part of the cornea is ablated, or taken away with the laser, you have to have a certain amount of thickness that's left over, and so if people have a 500 micron cornea, they are borderline for having it done, depending upon how nearsighted they are. You want to have a certain thickness, and you want to have a cornea, which is not too steep. Numbers that are usually said about the steepness, are 47 diopters, which that's something that you'd have to probably be in the field, to know what that means, but that is a number that is standardly held, as the steepest that you can do. A lot of these people that are outside of this range that I've mentioned, are eligible for another procedure, which is called photorefractive keratectomy, which we call PRK, which it is something that is not done with a flap, and it is something that definitely affects your vision, and is painful, for 5-7 days. There's another group of people, which are not candidates for. Those are people that have autoimmune disorders, or arthritis. People who have had herpes of the eye, are not candidates, because they can reactivate it, so those people are not candidates. Also, if a person is 55 or older, then it makes sense to consider having just one surgery lifetime, because when someone gets 65 or 70, 75, a lot of times, it's time for cataract surgery, and you can have cataract surgery done early. That's called Clear Lens Extraction, and that is a procedure which would be, if it were fee for service, it's probably a little bit more expensive than Lasik, but you're only doing it once, so your age is also a consideration. Most surgeons would want you to be at least age 21, and some going on down to 19, for you to have all the changes that have already happened to your vision, so you have a stable refraction, for at least one or two years, so if you're between the ages of 21-50, probably you are a candidate, for having Lasik."