LASIK Age Requirements
Among the many considerations of undergoing laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis or Custom LASIK surgery, is your age. Unlike most other major organs, your eyes continue to change over time, although the biggest changes usually occur in early child hood, they can change again as you get older, which causes vision problems such as myopia, hyperopia, and presbyopia. LASIK surgery is used to correct these vision problems permanently so that you no longer need eyeglasses or contact lenses.
Regardless of your age, the primary consideration the vision specialist makes is the overall health and condition of your eyes. Your vision must be stable for one to two years before you will be considered for LASIK procedures. If your eyes are not stable when surgery occurs, the continued changes could ruin the benefits of the procedure. Other eye conditions, such as macular degeneration, glaucoma, or eye infections may also make you ineligible for LASIK.
The FDA does not regulate the LASIK procedure itself, but the lasers used for the procedures. Although they approve the lasers for use on people 18-years-old or over, a lot of latitude is given to doctors to determine if someone under age 18 is qualified to undergo surgery. This practice is known as going "off-label". While it is possible for a doctor to go "off-label" there must be a good medical reason to do so. An experienced laser eye surgeon will not do it just because you ask. The younger the patient, the less likely it is that LASIK will be an available option.
Middle-aged people experience changes in the shape of their eye that affect the way the light refracts into the retina. Myopia, or near sightedness occurs when the eye becomes elongated from front to back. The light rays that display the image at which you are looking converge in front of the retina, not on the retina and the image becomes blurry. Prescription glasses and contact lenses are made to account for this error and bend the light so that the convergence returns to the retina. LASIK surgery is used to correct the cornea to do the same thing, but on a permanent basis.
In hyperopia, or far-sightedness, the eye is shortened, and the image converges beyond the retina and again is blurry. Your prescription eyeglasses correct the light refraction to adjust the point of convergence. Your eye must be stable and unchanged for at least two years so that the changes made by the LASIK procedure will work for as long as possible. As you get older, adjustments to the cornea may need to be made, or eyeglasses used for specific purposes like reading or working on the computer.
There is no upper age limit on getting LASIK surgery. The primary considerations are overall eye health and general physical health. As you age, the lengthening, and shortening of your eye may cause changes quicker than in middle age, putting you outside the one to two-year minimum for LASIK consideration. If you are not qualified for LASIK, there are other procedures and solutions like photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) or Laser-Assisted Sub-Epithelial Keratectomy (LASEK) available to provide you with adequate vision correction.
The only way to determine if you are able to have LASIK surgery is to be examined by a qualified laser surgeon. Your regular ophthalmologist may be able to perform the initial tests to determine your corrective needs and refer you to a laser eye surgeon with documentation of the physical changes of your eye, but the surgeon is best qualified to provide an adequate diagnosis.
About the Author:
If you are in the La Jolla, Scripps Ranch or San Diego, California area and are interested in finding out if you are old enough for LASIK, please contact board certified ophthalmologist Dr. Paul Huynh for an initial consultation.