Gailey Eye Clinic

Since LASIK has been so successful in giving people 20/20 vision or close to it, there are many eye doctors now qualified to offer LASIK. That means that you have many to choose from if you would like to learn more about LASIK and perhaps go ahead with it.

The most important thing to check is the eye surgeon’s training and experience. Most eye surgeons have a website and there will be a page giving the surgeon’s qualifications, professional memberships, local hospital affiliations, awards, and so on. Read these pages because you want to choose a LASIK surgeon who is up to date in his ideas, techniques, and technology. Make sure your surgeon is board-certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology.

When you go for your consultations with the eye surgeons on your short list, take a list of questions with you. Don’t be shy about asking them. Examples are:
• Has your license ever been suspended? (Move on if it has)
• Can I speak to some of your previous LASIK patients? (A reputable LASIK surgeon will have several names and phone numbers to give you)
• Do you offer Custom LASIK? (If not, move on)
• How many LASIK surgeries have you performed? (Expect at least 500)

When you are at each surgeon’s facility for your consultation, look around discreetly to notice the staff. Do they seem to get along well? Is the office quiet and well-organized? Do staff members seem to be confident about their work and content to be there? You would want to choose an eye surgeon who runs his practice well and who has time to talk with you.

At the Gailey Eye Clinic we are always happy to schedule a personal consultation for new patients. If you would like to arrange one for yourself, please call or email our LASIK surgeons today. We have nine locations and will be glad to meet with you.

LASIK is a procedure to correct three common vision problems:
• Nearsightedness (myopia)
• Farsightedness (hyperopia)
• Astigmatism (blurriness at all distances)

If you have any of these vision defects, you could be a candidate for LASIK. If you wear thick glasses, you are nearsighted – you can see clearly close up but not at a distance. Farsighted people have the opposite problem – they can see clearly at a distance but not up close. An astigmatic person has some blurriness both far and near because of the cornea’s non-spherical shape.

The cornea is the clear front part of the eye which covers the iris and pupil. You can read more detail on the Your Vision page.

If your vision is not 20/20 you may feel that you need LASIK, but you might not be a good candidate for it. The only way to determine if you are a good candidate is to have a thorough eye examination by a qualified LASIK surgeon.

If your glasses are very thick indeed and you are very nearsighted, that means your corneas have an extra steep curvature. Your eye surgeon may determine that you are therefore not a good candidate for LASIK, even though you could definitely use some vision improvement. He may offer you an ASA procedure instead of LASIK, and that can give you excellent results, comparable to those of LASIK.

There are other reasons too why a person might be a poor candidate for LASIK, even though they wear contacts or glasses and would like to improve their vision. The best step to take is to contact Gailey Eye Clinic today and schedule a personal consultation. If you do not qualify for LASIK, you may well qualify for another procedure.