Is Vision Surgery for You?

Pros and cons of LASIK and other procedures

She’s glad she took the plunge

After thinking about vision correction surgery for years, Michelle Hamilton is thrilled with the results. Now, when she swims at Rodale Aquatic Center, she can see exactly where she’s going.

From third grade through her active adulthood of bicycling, swimming and running, Michelle Hamilton of Emmaus always depended on glasses or contact lenses. Tired of switching between them, she decided at age 36 to have laser vision correction surgery.

If you, too, have dreamed of going that route but wonder about the risks, benefits and options, here’s some guidance from ophthalmologist Andrew Bausch, M.D., of Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network.

Your doctor will choose from two major types of surgery—LASIK or surface ablation (PRK). Both correct nearsightedness, farsightedness and/or astigmatism. Though LASIK accounts for 70 percent of cases, your ophthalmologist will decide which procedure is best for you based on an eye exam.

In LASIK, the surgeon cuts a thin flap of corneal tissue, reshapes the cornea with a laser and replaces the flap. Results are immediate, and within 24 hours your eye is healed and you’re off and running. In surface ablation, the surgeon uses a laser to reshape the cornea surface. Some types of eyes may have better long-term results with surface ablation, but you’re out of work for three days and full recovery can take up to six months.

The cost for either procedure is about $4,000 for both eyes, and the risks are very slight, occurring in only about 2 percent of patients. Risks include dry eyes, usually temporary; over- or under-correction, which can be retreated (at $200 per eye); and halos or starbursts at night, which also can be treated if they don’t resolve with time.

A new option called CustomVue™ minimizes these risks, improves night vision and sometimes produces better-than-20/20 vision. It adds wavefront, a diagnostic tool that measures your eye’s unique imperfections—like getting “a fingerprint of the eye,” Bausch says—so the surgeon can customize the laser treatment. The cost is $5,000 for both eyes.

Who’s a candidate for vision correction surgery? “Almost anyone age 18 or older,” Bausch says, “and there is no upper age limit. The biggest prerequisite is one year without a prescription change.” If you’re at the age for reading glasses, you can consider Monovision, which corrects one eye for distance and the other for reading. Vision surgery is not for pregnant or nursing women or people with ocular herpes, glaucoma or active rheumatoid arthritis.

Choose an experienced ophthalmologist who’s done hundreds of vision correction surgeries. Make sure the cost is all-inclusive and that you’ll see the same ophthalmologist before surgery and at all follow-up visits.

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