By getting your eyes checked on a regular basis, or when you may think you are having troubles with your vision, you can keep your eyes healthy and stay clear of further complications. Many sight-threatening diseases, if detected early, can be cured or treated to prevent, or slow, the progression of any vision loss.

The most important preventive step is receiving routine examinations by a qualified eye care professional. Children should receive their first comprehensive eye examination before the age of 3, unless a specific condition or history of family childhood vision problems warrants an earlier examination. Anyone with a history of visual problems should get routine preventive care. People ages 20 to 30 should have an eye exam every two years, unless visual changes, pain, flashes of light, new floaters, injury, or tearing occurs. Then, immediate care is necessary. Yearly exams become important in the late thirties when changes in vision and focus along with eye diseases are more likely to develop. People with diabetes are at risk for several eye disorders, including diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and cataracts, and should have eye examinations every year.

Squinting, blinking, rubbing eyes frequently, headaches, changes in vision and difficulty with visual concentration within arm’s length may be signs of eye problems and should be checked immediately by your ophthalmologist. When it comes preserving your vision, early detection is the solution.

To be a good candidate for LASIK, you should be at least 18 years old, have healthy eyes, and have adequate corneal thickness since LASIK corrects your vision by removing tissue from your cornea to reshape your eye. Chronic dry eye problems, corneal diseases and other abnormalities may disqualify you from having LASIK surgery. In order to know for sure if you are a good candidate, a comprehensive eye exam is required. For your convenience, we are happy to provide LASIK pre-operative exams and consultations at our office. Important considerations when deciding whether or not to have LASIK are your expectations and your ability to accept a less-than-perfect outcome. LASIK can reduce your dependence on glasses and almost always gives you the ability to function well without the need for glasses or contact lenses. But there are no guarantees, and LASIK doesn’t always create perfect vision. In some cases, your vision after LASIK may be permanently less clear than it was with glasses before the procedure. You have to ask yourself if you’re willing to accept the risk of such an outcome before you decide to have LASIK surgery.

LASIK, short for laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis, is the most popular refractive surgery available today. Each year, more than one million LASIK procedures are performed in the United States. LASIK has become the premier surgery for vision correction because it’s quick and painless, there is little or no discomfort after the procedure and vision recovery is rapid — some patients already see 20/20 the following day.  It can also reduce the need for reading glasses among patients over age 40 who wear bifocals. The actual surgery usually takes less than 15 minutes for both eyes, but expect to be at the surgery center for an hour or more.