LASIK Surgery Process

We ask that you stay out of your contact lenses for three days prior to your first appointment. Please wear your most up to date prescription glasses to the appointment. This visit normally takes less than an hour to complete, however, there is no rush and all your questions & concerns will be discussed.

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Second Visit

Once you’ve made the decision to have your procedure, we’ll have you return to our center one additional time prior to your LASIK surgery. During this visit, we will double check your evaluation measurements and your surgeon will perform a dilated eye exam. You will meet with your counselor once more to complete the consent paperwork, review instructions and provide payment.

This visit typically takes an hour to complete and can take place as late as the day before your desired surgery date. Your eyes will be dilated during this appointment and this appointment needs to take place at least 24 hours prior to your LASIK procedure. You may feel more comfortable having a driver to this appointment, however, one is not required.

Before LASIK Surgery

If you decide to go ahead with LASIK surgery, you will need an initial or baseline evaluation by your eye doctor to determine if you are a good candidate.

This is what you need to know to prepare for the exam and what you should expect:

• If you wear contact lenses, it is a good idea to stop wearing them before your baseline evaluation and switch to wearing your glasses full-time. Contact lenses change the shape of your cornea for up to several weeks after you have stopped using them depending on the type of contact lenses you wear. Not leaving your contact lenses out long enough for your cornea to assume its natural shape before surgery can have negative consequences. These consequences include inaccurate measurements and a poor surgical plan, resulting in poor vision after surgery. These measurements, which determine how much corneal tissue to remove, may need to be repeated at least a week after your initial evaluation and before surgery to make sure they have not changed, especially if you wear RGP or hard lenses.
  • If you wear:
    • Soft contact lenses, you should stop wearing them for 2 weeks before your initial evaluation.
    • Toric soft lenses or rigid gas permeable (RGP) lenses, you should stop wearing them for at least 3 weeks before your initial evaluation.
    • Hard lenses, you should stop wearing them for at least 4 weeks before your initial evaluation.
  • You should tell your doctor:
    • About your past and present medical and eye conditions
    • All the medications you are taking, including over-the-counter medications and any medications you may be allergic.
• Your doctor should perform a thorough eye exam and discuss:
  • Whether you are a good candidate
  • What the risks, benefits, and alternatives of the surgery are
  • What you should expect before, during, and after surgery
  • What your responsibilities will be before, during, and after surgery

You should have the opportunity to ask your doctor questions during this discussion.  Give yourself plenty of time to think about the risk/benefit discussion, to review any informational literature provided by your doctor, and to have any additional questions answered by your doctor before deciding to go through with surgery and before signing the informed consent form.

The day before surgery, you should stop using:

• creams
• lotions
• makeup
• perfumes

These products as well as debris along the eyelashes may increase the risk of infection during and after surgery. Your doctor may ask you to scrub your eyelashes for a period of time before surgery to get rid of residues and debris along the lashes.
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Also before surgery, arrange for transportation to and from your surgery and your first follow-up visit. On the day of surgery, your doctor may give you some medicine to make you relax. Because this medicine impairs your ability to drive and because your vision may be blurry, even if you don’t drive make sure someone can bring you home after surgery.

LASIK Procedure

On the day of your procedure, your driver will bring you to our center. We ask that you have a nice meal prior to your procedure and you wear comfortable clothing. You will meet with your surgeon again for the final, day-of measurements and to finalize and confirm your surgical treatment plan. Your counselor will provide you with an anti-anxiety medication to help you relax and review the post-op instructions.

Plan to be in our LASIK center for about 90 minutes. The actual LASIK Procedure takes less than 10 minutes. Once the LASIK has been completed, the surgeon will give your eyes one final exam and then your driver will take you straight home to recover. We highly recommend you return home to sleep – the first several hours following LASIK are uncomfortable. 

The Day After

The day after your LASIK, your vision should be improved. Typical results may fluctuate within the first few weeks after the procedure before your results settle in. While every patient recovers differently, most are seeing and feeling well enough to return to work and various normal activities the very next day.