LASIK Candidacy

Seibel Vision Surgery keeps stringent standards for LASIK in order to ensure your Personal Best Vision.

There are 4 basic categories of candidates:

  • Ideal LASIK candidate
  • Temporary less than ideal LASIK candidate
  • Less than ideal LASIK candidate
  • Not a LASIK candidate

Ideal LASIK candidate

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There are certain factors that are vital to your being an ideal LASIK candidate:

  • Age of at least 21 years
  • Vision that has stabilized with a consistent glasses or contact lens prescription for at least 2 years
  • Cornea of sufficient thickness and appropriate curvature – to allow the creation of a clean corneal flap of appropriate depth for LASIK.
  • At least 1 of the common types of vision problems:
    • Myopia (nearsightedness)
    • Hyperopia (farsightedness)
    • Astigmatism (irregular shaped eye)
  • Free of any disease, vision-related or otherwise, that may reduce the effectiveness of surgery or the ability to heal properly and quickly
  • Adequately informed about the benefits and risks of LASIK

May be ideal LASIK candidate at a later date

Sometimes factors exist that may keep you from being a candidate immediately, but do not preclude your being a candidate entirely:

  • Eyes that are not fully mature, which usually means less than 21 years of age
  • Vision that has not stabilized with a consistent glasses or contact lens prescription for at least 1 year.
  • Pregnancy or nursing
  • History of ocular herpes within a year prior
  • Refractive errors too severe for treatment with current technology*

*Current FDA-approval defines appropriate candidates as those with myopia up to -12 diopters, astigmatism up to 6 diopters and hyperopia up to +6 diopters.

Less than ideal LASIK candidate

Sometimes factors exist that might preclude you from being an ideal for LASIK surgery:

  • History of dry eyes
  • Medications such as steroids or immunosuppressants, which can slow or prevent healing
  • Diseases that slow healing, such as autoimmune disorders
  • Scarring of the cornea

Not a LASIK candidate

There are certain conditions and circumstances that exclude individuals from being candidates for LASIK surgery:

  • Conditions such as cataracts, amblyopia, strabismus, advanced glaucoma, corneal diseases, corneal thinning disorders (keratoconus or pellucid marginal degeneration), or certain other pre-existing eye diseases that affect or threaten vision
  • Collagen vascular diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, or significant problems with wound healing.
  • Refusal to give informed consent
  • Not having realistic expectations

Dr. Seibel will then discuss the results of your evaluation with you. Upon your decision to proceed, we will schedule your pre-operative eye exam.

Next step: Your pre-operative eye exam.

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