I am in my late 20s. Should I get LASIK eye surgery?

Well, it depends of course on a number of things: I assume you have had a thorough ocular evaluation and know that you are myopic (nearsighted). I would also imagine you have been told you are within the range of myopia and astigmatism where LASIK is safe and that your corneas have the structural integrity to do well with the thinning that LASIK entails -in other words that you are a good candidate in the first place.

That being the case, the issue is then age. FDA recommendations based on clinical trials suggest between the ages of 18 and 40. Nevertheless, LASIK can be a good and safe thing to do in younger patients under certain conditions -I did LASIK on my son when he was 16. In general, a patient in their 20s has stabilized refraction and finished with the optical changes in the eye. So, the typically best LASIK candidates are in their 20s and 30s.

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