What You Need to Know About Pre-Operative LASIK Care

Although LASIK surgery is painless, fast and takes very little time for recovery, it is still not suitable for everyone. In order to determine your suitability your ophthalmologist will first examine your eyes to determine their health, what kind of vision correction you need and how much ablation is required. He will also check for dry eyes symptom and correct it before the surgery. The doctor will also use a corneal topographer to ‘photograph’ and create a map of your eyes. If you opt for wavefront LASIK, you are also likely to undergo wavefront analysis, which sends light waves through your eyes to create a better, more precise map of aberrations affecting your vision.

There are certain precautions you will need to observe before the surgery. Mainly you will have to stop wearing contact lenses for some weeks before your first evaluation. Contact lenses alter the shape of the cornea considerably for over a few weeks after you have stopped wearing them. This will cause improper measurements of your cornea while evaluation and a flawed surgical plan which will have disastrous impacts on the surgery. Typically if you wear:
• soft contact lenses, you should stop wearing them for 2 weeks before your initial evaluation.
• toric soft lenses or rigid gas permeable (RGP) lenses, you should stop wearing them for at least 3 weeks before your initial evaluation.
• hard lenses, you should stop wearing them for at least 4 weeks before your initial evaluation.

Be sure to inform your doctor of any medications that you might be taking, and medications you might be allergic to. Stop using any perfumes, creams, lotions or eye make-up the day before surgery as their particles collected in the eyelashes can cause infection after the surgery. It is also advisable to arrange for transportation to and from the clinic on the day of surgery, since there is bound to be some discomfort immediately after the surgery.

Ensure that you have a frank discussion and clarify all doubts with your doctor or surgeon. Do not hesitate to ask any questions. Look up additional information on the internet (like this website) or medical journal. Always remember to take the opinion of more than one doctor. While filling up the consent form do read the fine print and ensure you understand what you are agreeing to. It is important that you do not feel pressurized by anyone while making the decision to undergo surgery.

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