The Risks and Benefits of LASIK for Athletes

    CHICAGO, IL, March 26, 2011 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Professional athletes who play contact sports should never depend on glasses and contact lenses to help them see. Not only can both of these visual aids too easily fall out during gameplay, they can pose danger to a player's eyes. Glasses can shatter with the impact of a ball or another player's hand. Dirt and sweat can build up underneath contacts, causing irritation and infection in the eyes.

For these and other reasons, an increasing number of athletes are considering LASIK surgery as a way to correct their vision. While some athletes may be good candidates for LASIK, the nature of some sports can put players at a higher risk of injury or complications.

How Sports Can Interfere with LASIK

In order to understand why athletes are more prone to injuring their eyes after LASIK, it's important to understand exactly how LASIK works.

Your cornea is a transparent membrane that curves over the surface of your eye. The cornea bends light to focus it on the retina at the back of the eye. During LASIK surgery, a flap is created on your cornea which allows the laser to re-shape the cornea.

Athletes who return to playing vigorous sports immediately after surgery may dislodge this flap before it has had time to properly heal. This would not only cause pain, but inflict damage that must be repaired through a follow-up LASIK procedure.

REM (rapid eye movement) also puts athletes at risk. As players need to constantly be on the lookout during gameplay, REM can stress the eyes unnecessarily, resulting in irritation. If a patient has irritation or infection already starting in the eye before LASIK treatment, REM and pressure around the eyes post-surgery could worsen the problem, or prevent the patient from obtaining the best results from their surgery.

Sports where the face is not constantly exposed to impact - such as basketball, baseball, and soccer - pose less of a risk to players than high-contact sports like wrestling and football.

The Benefits of LASIK Surgery for Athletes

Despite the setbacks described above, some athletes are still good candidates for LASIK eye surgery. The only way to properly determine if LASIK surgery is an option for you is to have a thorough screening and pre-surgical evaluation with a qualified LASIK surgeon in your area.

For athletes, the benefits of LASIK surgery are unparalleled. Freed from the hassle of contact lenses and glasses, athletes are granted a competitive edge with vision that is often better than what could have been accomplished with glasses and contacts. Athletes who take all the necessary precautions before and after LASIK surgery can enjoy the benefits of this life-changing procedure for years to come.

If you are approved for LASIK surgery, you should refrain from athletic activities for at least two weeks following surgery. Athletes who are at higher risk because of the nature of their sport are advised to wait until the off-season to have their surgery performed.

If you live in Chicago or Arlington Heights, Illinois and would like more information on LASIK eye surgery for athletes, please visit the website of Doctors For Visual Freedom at http://www.doctorsforvisualfreedom.com/.

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