There is nothing worse as a parent than seeing your child suffer in anyway. So, whether it is due to the drastically poor eye sight interfering with him or her enjoying life, or the teasing of other kids regarding the bulky glasses, it is understandable why you would want to consider LASIK eye surgery for your child. However, if you are still able to refer to him or her as a child, then chances are quite good that no LASIK MD will agree to go through with the procedure. Fret not. This is not entirely a situation of liability. In fact, a doctor that agreed to do this procedure on a child would not really be acting in the best interest of your son or daughter.
To better understand the reasoning for this, you may need to speak to an ophthalmologist or optometrist Leander, but this article sets out to explain the basic principle of why children are not ideal candidates for LASIK. There is little difference between your child and those turned away for being in the midst of receiving glaucoma treatment Austin. It is a matter of health and eye condition.
Let us begin by understanding the procedure. LASIK, which stands for “laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis,” is a procedure that intends to correct a misshapen cornea, thereby improving vision. The irregular, heightened, or too shallow curve of the cornea can result in astigmatisms, nearsightedness, or farsightedness, or any combination therein. Thus, by improving the shape, the eye is able to more clearly see at all distances. However, if the shape of the eye is corrected before the eye has reached a mature state, that is before it has finished changing shape, then the outcome of the surgery will be unlikely to last. With surgeries costing an average of fifteen-hundred to twenty-two hundred dollars per eye, and the reputations of the doctors at stake, there is good reason why a child would not be considered an ideal candidate and good reason why a parent wouldn’t want to make the investment, just to have the child’s eyes change again within a few months’ time.
The age limit is typically set at eighteen or twenty-one because for most people a stable eye shape is not achieved until they are in their mid-twenties. For some, it can occur even later in life, and for others, it may never happen. So, it is not always children turned away for this reason. Often adults must wait many years before the optometrist or ophthalmologist will give the go-ahead.
There is one final point to make about children. Even if the eyes of your child have reached a stable point, you must trust that the child is mature enough to handle a thorough eye exam prior to the surgery. Children are less likely to have the necessary attention span, as well as less likely to understand the questions asked of them and the information given to them. Though it is hard to see your child being teased, it would be harder still to find that the LASIK procedure had a bad outcome due to an undiscovered retinal disease. Whether for you or your child, it is always best to err on the side of caution when dealing with your ability to experience the world around you.