LASIK Surgery Candidate Criteria

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Do you qualify for LASIK corrective surgery?

All LASIK candidates must first go through a pre-op eye evaluation to help determine eligibility for LASIK surgery.

The following conditions help determine whether you would be a potential LASIK candidate.

LASIK Surgery Candidates Patient Criteria
  1. LASIK candidates must be at least 18 years of age
  2. Your vision/prescription has been stable (not worsened) for at least one year
  3. Your prescription for distance vision needs to match a certain minimal strength, and that perscription strength (glasses or contacts) must meet FDA-approved guidelines for nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism.
  4. Your eyes should have a healthy cornea, retina, and eye pressure.
  5. The cornea must have sufficient thickness.
  6. You should have no major eye diseases.
  7. You should have no evidence of collagen vascular or autoimmune diseases.
  8. You should not be a pregnant or nursing mother.
  9. You should not have a recent history of an ocular herpes infection (eye herpes).
  10. You should have realistic vision expectations about LASIK surgery outcomes.
  11. LASIK candidates must also be willing to accept the potential surgical risks, procedural complications and visual side effects.

See the FDA's LASIK Candidate Checklist for additional criteria.

Potential LASIK candidates that display the following medical symptoms would not be considered LASIK candidates:
  1. Active eye inflammation or eye infections
  2. Severely dry eyes
  3. Excessive corneal disease or scarring
  4. Degenerative disease of the cornea (e.g. keratoconus)
  5. Uncontrolled (unmanaged) diabetes
  6. Pregnant women and Nursing mothers
  7. Inadequate corneal tissue
  8. Certain rheumatological conditions (e.g. lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjorgens Disease)
  9. Pupils larger than 7mm in the dark - due to increased risk of vision glare and halos at night and decreased night vision
LASIKinstitute.org developed a LASIK candidate screening guide to help people determine if they would be good LASIK candidates. Only an examination by a LASIK surgeon will be accurate for determining if you personally qualify for LASIK surgery and area LASIK candidate.