When eye care news breaks get notified immediately
Vital Pre-Operative Information For Hyperopic (Farsighted) Lasik
Ensure the eye being operated on does not have more than ¾ diopters (.75) of astigmatism. This can affect he visual outcome and leave you with mixed astigmatism, possibly myopia (nearsightedness)
Ensure your doctor performs a manifest refraction as well as a Cycloplegic refraction and that your surgeon is aware of both of these results.
Ensure that the results of the manifest refraction and the cycloplegic refraction do not differ by more than ¾ diopters (.75)
Ensure that the cycloplegic refraction is administered by instillation of 1% cyclopentolate, followed by one more drop of 1% cyclopentolate 15 minutes later. The cycloplegic refraction should be done 15 to 30 minutes after the second drop since the cycloplegic effect starts to wear off after that.
Ensure that the manifest refraction is performed with the fogging technique and not the bi-chrome method.
Ensure your surgeon’s calculations for surgical depth (nomogram) include adjustment for variability in humidity for your region and the surgical suite.
Ensure your surgeon is highly skilled and can perform the operation quickly once the flap is raised. The longer the flap is raised prior to the ablations, the more dehydrated the cornea can become, which affects the final results. This is one case in surgery where faster is better and the most important argument for having an experienced surgeon performing the surgery.
Be aware that Hyperopic LASIK has different risks than LASIK for nearsightedness and astigmatism. A larger flap must be created which means more change of flap complications.
There is increased risk in Hyperopic LASIK resulting with irregular astigmatism.
You can be left with peripheral haze secondary to a peripheral ablation, however this has only been confirmed in Hyperopic PRK studies. DO NOT RETREAT Hyperopic LASIK as 31% of retreats result in haze as opposed to 6.5% of primary Hyperopic LASIK surgeries.
During the first 1-3 months you may experience a slight overcorrection that may blur your vision, but should gradually improve over time.
You may experience visual fluctuations 3 to 6 months post operatively.
Re-treatment rates are typically in the 15 to 36% range.
