What age can I have laser eye surgery?

Published on 17th February 2016 by Dr Stephen Doyle

Wearing glasses when you are a child or teenager can unfortunately sometimes lead to teasing, which is one of the reasons why we often have parents asking whether their child can have laser eye surgery.

There are a number of reasons why we say no to anyone under the age of 18. The most important one is that eyes tend to keep changing through their teenage years into early adulthood and we need a stable prescription in order to perform the surgery, so some people may have to wait a while longer before proceeding.

Our eyes continue to change through various other stages in our lives. At approximately 45 years of age mark, many people start to need reading glasses due to a condition known as presbyopia. LASIK does not correct presbyopia, but some people with the condition decide to have monovision.

Monovision is a laser eye surgery that leaves one eye corrected for near vision and the other eye corrected for distance vision. We have produced a patient friendly guide to Monovision Laser Eye Surgery that all patients falling into that age demographic ought to read if they are considering laser eye correction.

Once we get into our 70’s, this is when risk of cataracts increases. Some adults get to age 70 or 80 with no cataracts and have otherwise healthy eyes. It is not usually advisable to undergo laser eye correction once you are  in this age demographic as there is no guarantee of the longevity in the treatment.

If you are considering laser eye surgery, we believe it is important for you to have a consultation with the actual laser eye surgeon who will ultimately treat you. During your consultation and assessment the treatment options will be discussed with you, which will be based on a number of factors including your prescription and requirements.

If you would like to make an appointment or discuss laser eye surgery please either call us on 01204 387467 or contact us here.

All eye surgical procedures carry a level of risk including not obtaining the desired outcome, through to varying levels of visual loss. Your eye surgeon will discuss the risks and benefits, including ones specific to your circumstances, at the time of your pre-operative consultation.