Laser Eye Surgery at Total Family Eyecare’s Boca Raton Clinic

If you’ve ever thought about ditching your eyeglasses or contact lenses because you’ve heard about LASIK, or maybe someone you know has had LASIK, then this article will serve as a brief introduction to the process.

LASIK and PRK procedures have been around for many years and has progressively improved every year, and also costs have dropped to a point where many people can afford to have the procedure performed.

Before any work can be performed on your eyes, you must have a trained eye doctor evaluate the holistic health of your eyes. Not everyone will qualify for LASIK or PRK, for example if they have some preexisting eye disease or a condition that will be aggravated by the procedure.

Dr. Sheiner will have a thorough discussion with you and perform a non-invasive eye exam. Once that is complete, he will recommend you for a LASIK or PRK procedure. However, in some cases Dr Sheiner will advise you to wait and get reevaluated at a later date.

Before the Laser Eye Surgery Consultation
If you wear contact lenses, you will be instructed to stop using them for a week or longer to give the corneas of your eyes the time to return to its normal shape. Contact lenses can slightly distort the shape of your cornea.

Also, let Dr. Sheiner know about any medication you are taking.

During the Laser Eye Surgery Consultation
When Dr. Sheiner sees you for your laser eye surgery consultation, he will review your use of eyeglasses and contact lenses. He will also ask about your reasons to get laser eye surgery. Is it for aesthetics, is it for a practical need?

It is a common misconception that LASIK or PRK will be able to restore vision to 20/20. In some cases that happens, but not always. There may be factors that prevent the surgery from giving you the perfect vision.

Indeed, as we age, our eyes are constantly changing. The muscles age and become less flexible, usually leading to post-surgery patients becoming far-sighted and needing reading glasses or contact lenses.

The promise of having 20/20 vision for the rest of your life is not something that any eye doctor will guarantee, so if you are expecting to life the rest of your life without eyeglasses or contact lenses, then you are going to be disappointed. Having less reliance on contact lenses or eyeglasses is a normal outcome.

If you have preexisting health conditions such as dry eyes, diabetes, autoimmune disease, Dr. Sheiner may not recommend having laser surgery until the underlying issues have been resolved. Dry eyes is a common side effect in post-surgery patients, so if you already have dry eyes, the symptoms may get worse after your surgery.

Certain medications can affect healing of the eye, and this might be a concern for the doctor, as would alcohol usage or recreational drug usage.

If the overall health of your eye is satisfactory, you will have a more in depth eye exam. For example, Dr Sheiner will inspect your cornea, taking measurements like thickness, curvature and any abnormalities in the surface of the cornea.

A tear film test may also be performed which measures the tear production of your eyes. If there is not adequate tear production today, you might be experiencing dry eyes, and thus at further risk should you have laser eye surgery.

After the Laser Eye Surgery Consultation
Once the eye exam is finished, Dr. Sheiner will review the results and provide you with his medical opinion. It’s important that you understand what tests have been done and to ask questions throughout the consultation.