Determining the Right Time to Get LASIK
No matter what your age, your eye health should always be a priority. Whether it’s the month of May, officially designated as Healthy Vision Month by the National Eye Institute, or the peak of your athletic career, your eyesight is an integral part of your everyday life. It’s important to keep this in mind as you make decisions related to your vision, such as whether to get glasses, try contacts, or will you benefit from LASIK eye surgery? Some people wonder whether there’s a certain age range to undergo procedures such as LASIK, and if you’re one of those people, here’s some information to help you sort out a solution:
Is there a “perfect” age to get LASIK?
According to most experts in the eye health profession, the stability of your vision is much more telling of whether you should get LASIK than your age. If you’ve had the same prescription for years, then you’re likely to be ready for LASIK surgery. Many individuals who are in their 20s are around the age when they’ve had the same glasses or contact lens prescription for a couple of years, which puts them right around the college age.
Some people argue that college upperclassmen are, in fact, of the prime age for this type of surgery. That’s when some individuals turn to LASIK as a valid option.
What type of career benefits from LASIK?
Some professions demand keen vision. If you’re starting a career as a professional athlete, an architect or a mechanical engineer, you might want to make sure your eyesight is in tip-top shape, and if it isn’t, think about potential vision correction methods. Possessing astute vision in these fields is crucial, and they’re not the only jobs that demand sharp eyesight.
While contact lenses or glasses are a temporary fix, sometimes wearing these can hinder your peripheral vision or become a nuisance while you’re actively working. Before your career takes off, you can sit down with an optometrist or ophthalmologist and discuss your options, and figure out whether a LASIK procedure is the best choice for you.
Will my eyesight still change if I get laser eye surgery at an early age?
Most, if not all, doctors will tell you that you must wait until at least 18 years old to get laser vision correction surgery. The reason behind this advisement is because your vision is still developing during your formative teenage years, and it wouldn’t be wise to undergo corrective eye surgery while your vision is still changing.
On the other hand, that doesn’t mean that after you get LASIK your eyes will never change again. The surgery helps bring your eyesight to its best capability, but it can still change over time, just as it naturally would without the surgery. According to NPR, about 10 percent of patients often have enhancements or touchups after the surgery, but typically just one time. If your correction was a drastic change, your chances are of needing a slight touchup down the road are going to be higher, the news source states.
Talk to a doctor about LASIK
Ultimately, you should always make sure to set up an appointment with an eye doctor to lay out the facts about LASIK treatment. Researching beforehand is wise so you can arrive prepared with questions, but you should rely on your own instinct, as well as the expert opinion of medical professionals, to come to a conclusion.
