When to have LASIK

[Anonymous]

How old was your DC when s/he had LASIK? Any regrets?

[Anonymous]

Most good eye doctors won't let you get the surgery until the eye matures - which is about 24 years old.

If you have a doctor who is letting your child get the surgery - please get a second opinion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most good eye doctors won't let you get the surgery until the eye matures - which is about 24 years old.

If you have a doctor who is letting your child get the surgery - please get a second opinion.

and if your child really, truly is a candidate, it is because your child has serious vision issues - in which case you should be steering clear of anonymous general advice. even mine.

[Anonymous]

I'd never do this to a young person.
Wait til the generation having this done in their 30s hits old age. It's not clear yet how people with lasik do when they reach middle-aged vision and eye changes. That's what I'm doing before considering it for myself. For our children, I'd definitely wait til they are adults, by which time it's not my decision anymore.

[Anonymous]

When I got mine about 8 years ago, there was a mid-20s woman in there for the second time. SHe got it too young the first time and her eye changed since then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most good eye doctors won't let you get the surgery until the eye matures - which is about 24 years old.

If you have a doctor who is letting your child get the surgery - please get a second opinion.

+1 yes, because the eye is still forming until mid-20s

[Anonymous]

I had mine done at 27. Part of the reason I could do it at this age is my vision had not changed for several years. I think that is the key. I'm not sure if it is save to assume a teen's vision won't change as their body is still changing.

FYI, it was the best money I've ever spent.

[Anonymous]

Check out whether the doctor performing the surgery wears glasses. I have only ever met ONE opthamologist who has had the surgery himself. All the others that I know still wear glasses. That speaks volumes to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd never do this to a young person.
Wait til the generation having this done in their 30s hits old age. It's not clear yet how people with lasik do when they reach middle-aged vision and eye changes. That's what I'm doing before considering it for myself. For our children, I'd definitely wait til they are adults, by which time it's not my decision anymore.

Lasik has been around longer than you think. My 65 year old mother had it done 20 years ago. She needs reading glasses now but she's still good with long distance.

[Anonymous]

It also depends on your diapature (sp?).

If you are a negative 10 or so you will need two surgeries to get perfect eyesight, and even then it might not be as crisp as what you get with contacts (I know being a -10 sucks, limited contact selection, ultra thin lenses are still coke bottles). but I do know people who are thrilled to be able to see past the tip of their nose w/out glasses, even if they still need glasses for driving/reading and such. They can still wake up and see the cat on the floor.

As a previous poster said, they have been doing this since the 80s. There is limited research out there for how it effects old age eye issues - ie cataracts and other items.

[Anonymous]

I had LASIK done myself last year. My son wears glasses so I asked when he could have it done too. The doctor said mid 20s is the earliest he would consider doing it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd never do this to a young person.
Wait til the generation having this done in their 30s hits old age. It's not clear yet how people with lasik do when they reach middle-aged vision and eye changes. That's what I'm doing before considering it for myself. For our children, I'd definitely wait til they are adults, by which time it's not my decision anymore.

Lasik has been around longer than you think. My 65 year old mother had it done 20 years ago. She needs reading glasses now but she's still good with long distance.

Your sixty five year old mother was not a child when she had it done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd never do this to a young person.
Wait til the generation having this done in their 30s hits old age. It's not clear yet how people with lasik do when they reach middle-aged vision and eye changes. That's what I'm doing before considering it for myself. For our children, I'd definitely wait til they are adults, by which time it's not my decision anymore.

Lasik has been around longer than you think. My 65 year old mother had it done 20 years ago. She needs reading glasses now but she's still good with long distance.

Your sixty five year old mother was not a child when she had it done.

Also the technology is much improved now. Earlier cases often resulted in serious overcorrection which could not be solved - so the patient now has another serious problem AND has to wear glasses. BTW I recently learned that most practices have an age maximum at which they stop doing lasik @ age 60 and the reason is that it is more difficult to treat a patient who has glaucoma if they have had lasik. I have chronic dry eye so was never a serious candidate - but when I asked about it at my last annual physical with an xlnt opthal. she said that I would be aging out of the lasik option soon and said a good doctor would not perform the surgery on me because subsequent glaucoma treatments - if needed - would be more difficult. News to me.

[Anonymous]

BTW, pregnant women and women who have just gone through childbirth should not have lasik. My eye doctor says the new mother should wait at least a year until the hormones level out.

[Anonymous]

can you get cataract surgery after you've had lasik?

to the pp who says her 60 year old grandmother had it done 20 years ago... that doesn't disprove my point (I posted earlier that I would wait til the surgery has been more time-tested. Which I suppose really means I probably won't get it in my lifetime. But by the time my kids are 30, the answers should be more clear.) I don't think there are many people who are 60 now who had it done in their mid-20s! I am guessing they will have extra complications as their eyes age. Though of course I hope that is not the case.