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Do I want Refractive Lens Surgery or LASIK?
If your natural lens is clear, and you’re under age 60, then
you’re likely a better candidate for LASIK (Laser Assisted in situ
Keratomileusis). This is because your natural lens still has some
near focusing ability left, though it may be diminished, and the
LASIK surgery can correct your distance vision while you use
this near focusing ability of your lens to help see up close.
LASIK is a surgery of the cornea, or front surface of the eye,
and during LASIK the natural lens is not touched.
If your natural lens is clear, and you’re over age 60, then you
have already lost most or all of the near focusing ability of your
natural lens, and you may start to develop age-related
cataracts in the near future. While LASIK surgery may correct
your distance vision, your near vision will be impaired unless
you use reading glasses. By performing refractive lens surgery
and implanting a premium lens, the distance, intermediate, and
near vision can be addressed.
In cases of extreme glasses prescriptions, such as high myopia
or high hyperopia, refractive lens surgery may be a better
option than LASIK, even if you’re younger. Since LASIK
removes microscopic amounts of tissue from the cornea, there
is a limit as to how much treatment can be administered. Even
the most extreme glasses prescriptions can be safely corrected
with refractive lens surgery. I have successfully treated patients
with +18 D of hyperopia on one extreme, all the way to -33 D
of myopia on the other.
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