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Can I Have LASIK Surgery Twice?
Posted by: Georgia Eye Associates in LASIK
LASIK worked the first time, and you were thrilled with the results. Who wouldn’t be? After years, you got the chance to experience life without the need for glasses or contacts.
LASIK was life-changing, but it doesn’t always last forever. Life without glasses or contacts is obviously preferable, but what happens after LASIK? You don’t want to go back to a life that revolves around contacts or glasses.
Can you get LASIK twice? Keep reading to learn more about why your eyes may change after the procedure, and what you can do!
Reasons Vision May Change After LASIK Surgery
It’s important to go into LASIK knowing that your vision may change after the procedure. There are a few reasons LASIK patients may experience vision changes after LASIK.
Most Patients Only Need LASIK Once
LASIK is not billed as a guaranteed lifetime fix for vision problems. Instead, it is meant to be a long-lasting vision correction option. Many LASIK patients do experience vision correction that lasts a lifetime.
Patients with vision that’s changed several years after LASIK could undergo LASIK again. The first step is to contact the practice that originally performed your procedure. You’ll need another LASIK consultation.
This ensures your surgeon finds a second procedure necessary. Like getting LASIK the first time, you’ll need to qualify for factors if you get a second procedure. These could include age, eye health, other conditions, and more.
Why You Might Need LASIK Twice
LASIK is considered a long-lasting procedure that millions have undergone and loved. However, it’s important to realize that LASIK doesn’t fix all vision errors.
LASIK involves reshaping the cornea and fixing refractive errors. Even after LASIK, patients will get presbyopia or cataracts. These have nothing to do with the cornea and are not touched during LASIK.
Many vision changes due to age occur as early as 40. Although you may not realize it, you could have cataracts or glaucoma! A second procedure is necessary if refractive errors were not corrected during LASIK.
If a second procedure has been deemed necessary, another flap will be created. Most surgeons won’t perform a second LASIK procedure unless it’s 5-10 years after LASIK.
It’s Your Aging Eyes, Not LASIK
For most LASIK patients, their vision problems, later on, are not due to LASIK. Instead, their eyes are merely changing with age. As cataracts develop, patients will slowly lose their vision, as well as their clarity. With cataracts, the only true solution is to have cataract surgery.
A patient that demands a second LASIK procedure with cataracts can’t be helped with LASIK. This is because cataracts affect the natural lens of the eye, while LASIK reshapes the cornea.
The lens is a different part of the eye. If a patient is looking to regain their clear vision from LASIK, a premium IOL may be the best choice!
Another way that the eyes change with age is the development of presbyopia. Presbyopia occurs as the eyes lose their natural ability to focus.
This is why many people who are forty or older use reading glasses to see more clearly. As a patient with cataracts, a patient with presbyopia would not be helped if they had LASIK twice.
Presbyopia causes the lens of the eye to thicken and lose flexibility. Like cataract surgery, LASIK cannot help with vision problems due to presbyopia.
Concerned about your eyes after LASIK or presbyopia? Schedule an appointment with Georgia Eye Associates in Buckhead and get answers!
Tags: Eye Doctors, LASIK, LASIK Eye Surgery, LASIK Surgery
