Curious about why my LASIK consultation went wrong (corneas and pupils too big)?

Question

It was strange...I went for a consultation, they checked my eyes and prescription of my glasses. The normal stuff I guess.

After waiting for another 20-30 minutes, I was finally brought into another room. The doctor started by telling me my corneas were something like -5 and I had a stigmatism of something like 3 in my right eye and 6 in my left and that LASIK and Intralase were probably out.

Then he started telling me about PRK and how that could work around the cornea problem but then he checked the chart again and saw that my pupils weren't 6.5 mm but rather 8.5 mm and suddenly all bets were off.

I fully plan on getting a 2nd and 3rd opinion before I abandon hope but I admit I walked out soon after writing down the numbers and was wondering if anyone out there can help me out or just tell me to wait like the doctor did.

I'm 23 years old if that helps so maybe technology will catch up...

Answer 1

If I remember correctly, if your corneas are too big noone will be able to do LASIK/PRK on them. The equipment for the surgery is not set up for large corneas/pupils.

Be patient a little longer, hopefully LASIK will be available to those who have bigger corneas than usual.

I had LASIK done in 2000 and its great. I hope one day you can have it too!

Answer 2

If your corneas are too thin Lasik is not an option because there is a risk of the cornea stretching or perforating following the surgery, that is why they were starting to discuss PRK with you which can be done on a thinner cornea. The reason that pupil size is important is the fact that when you have large pupils there is a very high chance that after refractive surgery you will see halos and glare around lights especially at night. If you look long enough you will find someone who will do surgery however you may not get a good result so be very careful.

Answer 3

There is not a good surgery for astigmatism that is 2d or over. I have never seen a good outcome with this prescription. When they make the flap or the area of correction it is only so big. If your pupils are too large you will have lots of halos around lights and your vision will not be sharp. You are not a good candidate for any refractive surgery.