Eye Health and LASIK Eligibility

    CHICAGO, IL, August 05, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Would you go in for elective surgery if you were in poor general health? Probably not. Most people would realize that they could not expect the best results if they were sick or run down at the time they had surgery. They would do whatever they could to regain their health and stamina before having optional surgery. Well, the same is true for eye surgery, including LASIK. Your current eye health will affect your LASIK eligibility because it will affect your ability to heal and, consequently, your surgical outcome.

General Health

Your general health will affect your LASIK eligibility because systemic diseases like diabetes, autoimmune diseases such as Lupus, and even allergies can impede healing, This can mean the difference between a successful LASIK surgery and a failed one-not a risk you want to take.

Pregnancy, while a natural and healthy state, places huge demands on your physical resources. Your body will nurture the baby first, so it requires you to delay LASIK until you have delivered the baby and stopped breast-feeding.

Eye-Specific Health

Eye-specific health determines LASIK eligibility. Eye health is a bit less obvious because it can include both chronic eye disorders and acute infectious disease.

Chronic infections like herpes simplex that can alternate between dormant periods and outbreaks create a serious concern. LASIK surgery could be just enough "trauma" to trigger a herpes outbreak and a major complication. Herpes simplex of the eye is a contraindication for LASIK.

Diabetic retinopathy is another chronic disease of the eye that would severely compromise healing from LASIK. Diabetes often results in damaged blood vessels, and diabetic retinopathy is a direct result of damaged blood vessels. To heal from any surgery, the body needs excellent circulation. The damaged vasculature present with diabetic retinopathy would certainly put your eyes at risk for poor healing.

Macular degenerations, corneal scarring or abnormally shaped corneas can also disqualify you for LASIK.

Treatable Eye Disorders

Infectious diseases that affect eyes include acute bacterial, viral or fungal infections that are curable. Once an infectious disease is cured, and no evidence of it remains, it may no longer be a cause for LASIK ineligibility.

Dry eye must be treated satisfactorily before Dr. Golden will consider you eligible for LASIK.

LASIK treats refractive disorders. Cataracts and keratoconus are two of many disorders that are not refractive disorders and are treated with other methods. Likewise, glaucoma, with increased pressure within the eye is not treatable with LASIK.

Presbyopia does not result from distortions in the cornea's shape, as with myopia or hyperopia, but results from a loss of lens flexibility and focusing ability that comes with aging. Presbyopia, however, does alter refraction and can be treated indirectly by correcting the refractive error created by the lost of focus at the lens.

Treatment for presbyopia includes options such as a lens exchange or monovision created with CK or LASIK.

If you would like to know more about your eye health and LASIK eligibility, please visit the website of Doctors for Visual Freedom, serving LASIK patients in Chicago, Arlington Heights and Schaumburg, Illinois, at www.doctorsforvisualfreedom.com.

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