In a time of instant gratification, it might be tempting to have LASIK surgery on the same day as your LASIK consultation, especially if your LASIK surgeon is putting pressure on you and offering financial incentives to do so. But beware! It is medically inappropriate for you to have day that is same eye surgery as your consultation. We explain the good reasons why.
Importance of a Separate LASIK Consult
During a comprehensive LASIK consultation to see if you are an ideal candidate, your eyes must be dilated. By dilating your eyes, your doctor is doing three things:
Confirming accuracy and stability of the amount of vision correction required
Verifying the health of your eyes, specifically the retina
Ensuring there is no onset of cataracts
These three things are mission critical to ensure you have an optimal outcome that is long-lasting your LASIK surgery.
Why Same Day LASIK Eye Surgery is Unsafe
Did you know that the optical eye tracker on the laser that is used to reshape your cornea during LASIK surgery does not work if your eyes are dilated? That's right! When your pupils are enlarged from the dilation, the optical eye tracker is unable to track or will track in inaccurately, and dilation can take 4 to 8 hours to reverse. This is why same day LASIK eye surgery is an unsafe procedure if dilation is done on the same day.
The Risks of Same LASIK day
So, if your LASIK surgeon is offering you the option of same day LASIK as your consultation, then your eyes have likely not been dilated, and you have not been thoroughly & completely evaluated for LASIK. The possible risks of proceeding with same LASIK eye surgery are day:
Your prescription level has not been verified as stable and your LASIK results will not last.
You might have undetected retina tears which could get worse resulting in vision loss
If you have cataracts that have progressed to a point that is certain LASIK results could be very short-lived
Finally, any non-urgent procedure that is medical the patient to be thoroughly informed about the risks and benefits both in general and specific for that person. Ethically the physician and his/her team has an obligation to provide enough time for this to occur, which means having an opportunity to read the consent they will sign on the day of the procedure, have enough time ask questions, and finally enough time to seriously consider their decision to proceed. This generally cannot be accomplished during a 1 or 2-hour office visit, and the patient should be given at least one overnight period in order to be confident in their decision.
