Age and LASIK Eligibility

    CHICAGO, IL, May 27, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The often-quoted acceptable age range of 18 to 40 years of age for LASIK eligibility is more of a rule of thumb than a fixed boundary. Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of the excimer laser to treat persons over 18 years of age, there really is no upper age limit for LASIK eligibility. The relationship between age and LASIK eligibility depends heavily on general health, which can be very different at various ages as well as between one person and another.

Eligibility for LASIK Depends Upon Many Criteria.

Eligibility for younger people is based upon the maturity of their eyes. Visual stability, a standard LASIK qualification, is a characteristic of eye maturity that occurs between 18 to 21 years of age. Your prescription should be stable for two years.

Eye surgeons rarely make exceptions to perform LASIK on children under 18, and only when their eyesight is threatened and LASIK is the only effective treatment available to correct the problem. Even then, it would be considered an off-label, but legal, application of LASIK.

Between the ages of 18 and 40 there are few age-related eligibility limitations. Pregnancy and breast-feeding are the major ones, as are any intent or likelihood of becoming pregnant during the six-month healing period after LASIK. This, of course applies to older patients though pregnancy is less common in women over the age of 40.

Most age-related LASIK eligibility criteria affect patients older than 40. Again, the presence of any of the following may not be sufficient to disqualify you as a good LASIK candidate, but make sure your eye surgeon knows about these problems so that he or she can consider whether they will affect your outcome.

General Health and LASIK Eligibility - Disqualifiers

Restrictions that disqualify patients from LASIK include the presence of chronic health diseases such as:

- Diabetes
- Autoimmune disorders
- Hypertension
- Certain medications such as steroids or immunosuppressants

Eye Health and LASIK Eligibility - Disqualifiers

The list of age-related eye problems that can interfere with best LASIK results is much longer and includes:

- Dry eye
- Prior eye surgery
- Vision outside of the correctable range
- Diabetic retinopathy
- Cataracts
- Glaucoma
- Presbyopia
- Age related macular degeneration (wet or dry)
- Ocular hypertension

Some eye disorders such as cataracts are not treatable with LASIK. Since other treatments correct these disorders, whatever refractive error is present is likely to be corrected by the primary treatment.

Presbyopia, a common age-related disorder most definitely affects refraction, but since it is due to a stiffening of the lens or weakening of the eye muscles that bend the lens (or both) it is often corrected with an alternative to LASIK, such as lens exchange, implant or monovision induced using CK, a less permanent treatment of the cornea.

If you want to know more about age and LASIK eligibility from an experienced Chicago, Arlington Heights or Schaumburg, Illinois eye surgeon please visit the website of Doctors for Visual Freedom at www.doctorsforvisualfreedom.com.

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