Questions & Answers About Lasik, PRK, Lasek, Intralase

These are the commonest questions we are asked about Laser Vision Correction, Lasik, PRK, Lasek and Intralase, and the ones that most patients want answering before considering laser eye treatment. At your clinical assessment you will have ample time to ask other questions, or you can email Dr Fink now.

How Do I know if I am a Good Candidate?

You are a good candidate if:

• - You would love to stop being dependent on glasses and contact lenses and enjoy the freedom that brings.
• - Your prescription is between -1 to -10 (near sight), or up to +4 (far sight), with or without cylinder up to 6 (astigmatism)
• - Your are between the ages of 18-65
• - You are dependent on glasses or contact lenses for distance vision.
• - You have a stable glasses prescription
• - You don’t suffer from any eye disease and have good vision in both eyes with your glasses on.
•  - You are in good general health.

NOTE: Laser Vision Correction can also help patients who require glasses for reading and distance vision, but is not designed for those who have good distance vision and only require glasses for reading.

How Safe is Laser Vision Correction

The US army continues to encourage and sponsor its combat troops to undergo lasik and PRK treatments, such is its safety record. This even includes its airforce and navy fighter pilots who take millions of dollars to train.

The chance of significant complication occurring during a Lasik or PRK/Lasek procedure is much less than 1%, and that it will leave significantly impaired vision after treatment is even lower.

The risks are far less than in past due to better technology. Choosing an experienced doctor contributes significantly to reducing the risk even further.

In a recent report the risk of significant visual damage from wearing contact lenses long term was shown to be 5 times that of laser vision correction.

Other problems seen in the past such as night vision difficulties (halos and glare) are also very unusual today because of better laser technology.

You may find this article helpful.

Is Laser Vision Correction Permanent? I've heard the effect wears off after a few years and I'll need glasses again

Amongst Dr Fink's patients, the chance of requiring an extra treatment because of residual prescription, or because some of the effect wears off with time, is between 2% and 5% depending on the initial prescription, which is well within FDA standards. For very high prescriptions and long sighted patients, the figures may be slightly higher.

Enhancement treatments are usually performed within the first 1-2 years, with a few patients requiring retreatments later on, as the years pass.

Reading glasses will be required in the future as for anyone else  with great distance vision, although there are solutions for this also.

There is no long term follow up. Laser is a new procedure.

PRK has been around since the 1980's, around 25 years. Lasik was first performed in 1989, some 20 years. There have been no surprise new complications discovered in recent years that we weren't previously qware of. 

Is treatment painful?

Local anaesthetic is used to numb your eyes, and the procedure is not painful. When making the flap in Lasik, there is a feeling of pressure, but patients tolerate this well.

What if I can't look straight or blink?

The laser machines we use have a tracker which follows your eye movements very accurately.

If you look outside the field of treatment the machine stops automatically. Dr Fink is checking your eye position all the time also.