LASIK Surgery Consultation

What is LASIK eye surgery?

LASIK eye surgery uses advanced laser technology to correct the deformations of your corneas that cause common vision problems, including:

Nearsightedness: You can see things close up, but things that far away appear blurry.

Farsightedness: You can see objects that are far away better than those that are close to you.

Astigmatism: You have a distortion of vision that causes overall blurriness.

Presbyopia: An age-related type of farsightedness that’s caused by loss of elasticity in the lens of your eye.

LASIK eye surgery reshapes the specific deformation in your cornea so that light can be properly refracted -- or bent -- to the retina, allowing you to see clearly again.

Is a pre-surgery consultation required?

Yes. LASIK isn’t suitable for everyone, and several conditions or factors may disqualify you from being able to have the surgery. LASIK isn’t for children or adolescents, so you must be at least 18 years old to get it.

Other prerequisites for LASIK surgery include:

Good eye health: You must have good ocular health, and you must have refractive stability, meaning your prescription is stable and hasn’t changed within the past year. Patients with refractive instability should wait until their condition stabilizes. LASIK is not suitable for patients with glaucoma, cataracts, dry eyes, large pupils, or thin corneas.

Good overall health: Dr. Trinh won’t recommend LASIK for patients who have diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV, lupus, or a herpes simplex infection that affects the eyes.

Correctable prescription: Your corrective lens prescription must fall within the range that can be corrected with LASIK.

What does a LASIK consultation involve?

If you wear contact lenses, you’ll be asked to stop wearing them two to four weeks prior to your LASIK eye surgery consultation. That’s because contacts change the shape of your cornea, and your cornea must return to its natural shape before your evaluation.

After Dr. Trinh goes over your complete medical history, you’ll discuss your reasons for wanting LASIK surgery. Part of this conversation includes making sure you have realistic expectations about the procedure. Some patients believe they’ll never require corrective lenses again, but in reality, continuing eye changes mean that you’ll still probably need reading glasses at some point.

Then Dr. Trinh performs a comprehensive eye exam to determine if your eyes are healthy enough to have LASIK surgery. In addition to testing your pupil dilation and eye pressure, verifying your prescription, and measuring the thickness of your corneas, Dr. Trinh also performs a detailed mapping of the topography and curvature of your corneas.

Once your evaluation reveals you to be a good candidate for LASIK surgery, Dr. Trinh refers you to a qualified surgeon.