Can -12.00 be corrected with LASIK treatment?

Yes, it can.

But the real question is should it be? Most experienced LASIK surgeons (who offer other treatments as well as laser vision correction) would say that is probably too high an attempted correction. The more the amount of myopia to correct, the more corneal tissue is going to be removed. Studies have shown the single thing that people with LASIK complications (of the cornea) most have in common is having had over about -8 Diopters treated. The problem is that these problems (ectasia, visual instability, irregular astigmatism) usually do not become apparent until several years after the LASIK treatment was performed.

The FDA labelling for most LASIK lasers still list indications as being up to -14 D. But this was done long before the problems just mentioned had become generally recognized.

There are other options to LASIK and PRK that may be better for such a high degree of myopia (nearsightedness).

Written by J. Trevor Woodhams, M.D. - Chief of Surgery, Woodhams Eye Clinic