The Complimentary LASIK Consultation at Vision Plus Medical Group
Detailed here is a variety of tests which will be performed on the day of your LASIK consultation. We feel that it is imperative to conduct a thorough and comprehensive eye evaluation, taking into consideration your occupation and hobbies, to effectively determine whether you are a good candidate or not. Although many of the technological intricacies may be impressive to our patients, our goal is to have you walk out of our office feeling more at ease because you know what is going on with your eyes. You can expect the entire consultation to take about an hour.
- Comprehensive eye examination with dilation. Prior to considering any type of laser treatment, we must determine that there are no problems with the overall health of the eyes. For this aspect of the consultation, we will use a phoropter to determine your subjective refraction (aka your prescription), a slit-lamp biomicroscope and a binocular indirect ophthalmoscope to assess the health of the inner and outer portions of your eyes, and a tonometer to assess the intraocular pressures (aka glaucoma test).
- Pupillometry. This is a simple test to measure the size of your pupils in darkness via a special night-vision scope. This is a vital measurement because the likelihood of nighttime side effects, such as haloes and glare, is directly related to the size of your pupils.
- Pachymetry. This is a measurement of the thickness of the cornea using an ultrasound apparatus. The cornea is the front surface of the eye, which is treated in all laser refractive procedures. This measurement will determine whether you have enough corneal tissue to treat your specific prescription.
- Corneal Topography. We employ the Orbscan II because it is currently the only corneal topographer capable of mapping out both the front and back surfaces of the cornea. Most topographers used today are only able to map the front surface, which leaves in question the many conditions which affect the back surface. In addition, the Orbscan also assesses the corneal thickness. What exactly is topography? Well, you can think of it as a measurement of the curvature and power of the cornea, which is effectively changed by having LASIK performed.
- Wavefront Analysis. This is a very sophisticated means of obtaining your optical prescription, along with a vast array of aberrations which adversely affect your vision. This scan, employing the VISX Wavescan system, analyzes each eye’s individual profile of optical aberrations. One can think of this step as the eye’s equivalent of having one’s fingerprint taken. Data obtained from this test is used to perform wavefront or custom LASIK.
Based upon the results of the above tests, we will be able to discuss all the options available to you and address your candidacy for LASIK or other modes of vision correction.
