laser eye surgery fda

Can you get lasik done if you have had radial keratotomy before?

I was extremely near sighted and I had radial keratotomy surgery performed on both eyes in the early 90’s. Laser surgery wasn’t even FDA approved back then.

As I approached 40, I’ve lost some of the crispness that I had andI wear glasses some of the time now. I’ve heard conflicting answers on whether or not I could have LASIK even though I’ve had RK.

Depends on how deep the cuts for the RK were. In general, anyone who was myopic enough to require RK had cuts that were deep enough to disallow LASIK now. I suspect what you are experiencing now is presbyopia, and LASIK does not help that anyway.

But be heartened, the first clinical trials for presbyopia repair have been done. The changes of presbyopia are loss of accommodation (ability of the lens to “round up”) due to the crystalization and hardening of the fluid comprising the lens. You sound as though you may need reading glasses only. The good news is the changes of presbyopia that are so rapid in your 40s slow down or stop shortly after you turn 50.

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