With millions of Americans suffering from poor vision and getting fed up with relying on their prescription eyeglasses or contact lenses all the time, LASIK surgery is becoming one of the most popular procedures offered by optometrists today. If you’re one of the many people thinking about getting LASIK surgery, here are a few basic things you should know about preparing for the surgery:
- This should probably go without saying, since you’ll need to have an experienced optometrist performing the surgery anyway, but remember that you’ll need to have some time for preliminary eye doctor visits and consultations. Your local eye doctor can examine your eyes and determine if you’re a good candidate for the procedure, or if you’re safer using prescription glasses and/or contact lenses.
- To prepare for your initial consultation appointment, you’ll have to plan ahead a little bit if you wear contacts. If you wear soft contact lenses, you’ll need to switch over to glasses about two weeks before the appointment. For toric soft lenses, you’ll need three weeks, and for hard lenses, you’ll need four weeks. This is because contact lenses change the shape of your cornea (the part of the eye which is changed during the surgery), and the optometrist will need to see its real shape in order to determine the exact measurements of the surgery.
- Similar to other surgical procedures, a small (but very important) detail to remember is that you shouldn’t wear any lotions, creams, make up, or perfumes on the day before the surgery, as well as the day of the surgery. These products could contain chemicals that might increase the chance of infection, especially when they’re applied directly on the face.
- And last but not least, make sure you’ve arranged for transportation to and from the medical office on the day of your surgery. It’s likely that you’ll be given some medicine to help you to relax during the procedure, and this would impact your ability to drive. Additionally, you’ll probably be given a mask to wear after the procedure so that you don’t rub your eyes (and it’s really not safe to drive when you have a dark mask completely covering your eyes).
Now it’s your turn to help out a bit — if you’ve gotten LASIK surgery before, what tips and tricks would you give to someone else who’s preparing for the procedure? Be sure to leave any thoughts down in the comments section!