Pre LASIK Examination: What does it involve?

Your eye surgeon should do a thorough eye examination before you undergo LASIK. Besides taking your detailed eye and other disease history, your eye surgeon should perform at least the following checks. Don't trivialize the LASIK procedure, and don't allow your eye surgeon to trivialize it either. Good doctors, who have experience with LASIK and who care about their doctors, will do the following tests.
* Determination of uncorrected vision and vision as corrected by your own glasses/ contact lenses.
* Determination of the magnitude of refractive error in each eye
* Measurement of the surface of the cornea by "mapping" its topography (corneal curvature or shape), to find irregularities, if any, and to screen for disease states (e.g. corneal thinning disorders like keratinous) that may produce poor outcomes with LASIK.
* Measurement of pupil size in dim and room light. Pupil size is an important factor in counseling a candidate about night vision and planning the appropriate laser vision correction strategy.
* Assessment of whether there is presence of squint
* Examination of the eyelids to see if they turn inward (possibly scratching the cornea) or outward and redirect tear flow away from the eye, and other conditions.
* Examination of the conjunctiva, the transparent membrane that covers the outer surface of the eye and lines the inner surface of the eyelids, to see whether there are irritations, redness, irregular blood vessels or other abnormalities.
* Examination of the cornea to determine if there are any abnormalities that could affect the outcome of surgery.
Some of the following examinations may require dilatation of the eye (i.e putting special eye drops to artificially widen the pupil of the eye, so that the surgeon can see inside the eye better). Dilatation causes poor vision (especially in bright light) and difficulty in reading for a few hours. Don't get unnecessarily alarmed.
* Examination of the crystalline lens inside the eye to determine if clouding of the lens (cataract) or other abnormalities are present.
* Measurement of corneal thickness (pachyderm). The amount of LASIK correction may be determined in part by corneal thickness. Blade Free LASIK is a good way of solving problems due to thin corneas, as there is tighter control over flap thickness.
* Measurement of interlobular pressure to detect glaucoma or pre-glaucomatous conditions. Glaucoma is a visual loss caused by damage to the optic nerve from excessively high pressures in the eye. It is a common cause of preventable vision loss.
* Assessment of the back (posterior segment) of the eye: This is used to assess the health of the inside back surface of the eye (retina), with the pupil fully open. Examination of the retina, optic nerve, and blood vessels screens for a number of eye and systemic disorders. LASIK Doctors must let you know if you have any eye or systemic disorders after examination.