Just the other day I was
asked if the new and popular laser eye surgery procedures were
safe for senior citizens and how old could you be and still qualify
to be a candidate for these new types of eye operations using
the latest laser technologies.
To find out for myself and to get information to share with you,
I started by calling eye doctors' offices in the most populated
states for retirement living for senior citizens. What I found
out was encouraging for us over 55+ older adults.
One of latest and currently the most
popular procedures has the acronym LASIK (Laser-Assisted in
Situ Keratomileusis). It has been around for the last five years
and is approved by the FDA. LASIK has been continually improved to the
point that it is has less then one-percent problems from complications.
The LASIK surgical operation takes
less then five minutes per eye and both eyes' vision problems can be
corrected to near perfect 20/20 sight. With this excimer laser process,
the procedure is essentially painless and without discomfort.
It is important to get a preliminary examination
from your primary medical physician and the Ophthalmology surgeon to
determine if you are a good candidate for LASIK eye corrective
procedure. Basically a candidate should be in good overall health and
stable eye vision.
Other considerations for candidates for
the LASIK corrective eye surgery are that they don't have a family
history of corneal disorders, diabetes, glaucoma, cataracts, autoimmune
disease, and ocular herpes infection. The candidate should not have
previous problems with eye dryness.
The LASIK procedure can correct
for moderate far, near and distorted (hyperopia,
myopia,
and astigmatism)
vision problems. This excimer laser procedure will not correct the problem
of focusing (presbyopia) from far to near vision. This is
a problem that comes as we get older. After the eye surgery, it may
be necessary to need and use reading glasses.
Besides contacting many eye surgeon
offices in my preliminary inquiries, I looked to see what the Federal
Government's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and
the American Association for Retired People
(AARP) had to say about LASIK corrective eye surgery.
They both agreed that this is the best and most reliable procedure to
date.
From what I found out and information
to share with my fellow senior citizens, a person in good health can
still get the LASIK eye corrective surgery into the ages of 60's
and 70's. It is important that a candidate be examined prior to the
procedure and has approval by a qualified board certified surgeon from
the Association of Ophthalmology.
