LASIK F.A.Q.

Frequently Asked Questions
Am I a Good Candidate for Custom Wavefront Lasik, PRK or Laser Vision Correction Surgery in Denver or Boulder Colorado?

1. SHOULD I CHOOSE LASIK OR PRK?
Both LASIK and PRK give excellent results. Both use an Excimer Laser to reshape your cornea. With PRK the correction is placed on the surface of the cornea; in LASIK a thin flap of corneal tissue is lifted and the correction placed on the underlying corneal bed and the overlying corneal flap then repositioned. 95% of my patients choose to have LASIK, but if the thought of the flap in LASIK makes you extremely uncomfortable, I would strongly encourage you to consider PRK! PRK is slightly safer and minimally more predictable than LASIK because no flap is being made. The risk associated with the flap is small, but in 1-2% of LASIK patients, flap complications occur and are usually treatable without resultant vision loss. PRK is more uncomfortable than LASIK for 48-72 hours post-op; the vision takes longer to clear up after PRK than LASIK. Both LASIK and PRK give the same results long term; however, PRK has a lower retreatment rate (1-2% vs 5-10% for LASIK) and may have somewhat less glare and dryness than LASIK. Once again, both LASIK and PRK give excellent long term results; PRK is slightly safer than LASIK but is more uncomfortable and takes longer to heal.

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2. IF I HAVE A HISTORY OF SIGNIFICANT SCAR FORMATION FROM OTHER SURGICAL PROCEDURES, WILL I GET SCARRING FROM THIS PROCEDURE?
Very faint scarring may be present after the procedure. This cannot be seen except under a microscope and is not usually visually significant. The cornea heals completely differently than the rest of the body. There is no blood released in Laser Vision Correction, so there are no platelets, clots, or fibroblasts to cause scar formation.

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3. I PRESENTLY WEAR CONTACT LENSES. HOW FAR IN ADVANCE DO I NEED TO STOP WEARING THEM?
Contact lenses invariably cause at least minimal corneal distortion. This distortion must resolve before your cornea is Lasered. If it has not resolved, your final visual outcome will not be accurate. Soft lens wearers must stop wearing their lenses 7 days prior to their Pre- operative appointment and hard or gas-permeable lens wearers must stop wearing their lenses 3 weeks prior to their Pre-operative appointment. Occasionally, if the distortion persists, the patient will require longer periods without their contacts before having the procedure.

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4. I HAVE VERY DRY EYES. IS IT SAFE FOR ME TO HAVE LASIK?
After LASIK, patients often experience dry eyes, requiring the use of moisture drops to keep the eyes comfortable. The dryness symptoms usually resolve after 3-6 months. Many patients on whom I perform LASIK have preexisting dry eyes. In fact, most of the patients who have LASIK have decided to have LASIK because they can no longer comfortably wear their contact lenses, and this is usually due to dryness. So dryness is usually not a contraindication for LASIK. However, if you have very dry eyes and are unable to get relief with artificial tears or punctal plugs, or if when I examine your eyes, I see evidence of dryness-induced abnormalities on your cornea, I would not recommend LASIK.

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5. I WAS TOLD BY MY "EYE DOCTOR" THAT I AM NOT A CANDIDATE FOR LASER VISION CORRECTION. DO I HAVE ANY OTHER OPTIONS?
Obviously, not all patients are candidates for Laser Vision Correction. However, if you were told that you are not a candidate for Laser Vision Correction, I would encourage you to get a second opinion. In my experience, eye doctors that do not perform Laser Vision Correction do not always have enough experience to determine if you are a good candidate for Laser Vision Correction. Also, they may not be aware of all the options available to potential Laser Vision Correction patients. Eye doctors without extensive experience in performing Laser Vision Correction tend to be extremely conservative and can tell patients they are not a candidate for Laser Vision Correction when, in fact, they are good candidates. I am not claiming that I can perform Laser Vision Correction on every interested patient, but I am stating that I have safely and successfully performed Laser Vision on patients who had been told by a previous "eye doctor" that they were not candidates for Laser Vision Correction. I invite you to call my office (303-393-0347) and schedule a complimentary (i.e. free) consultation to determine if you are a candidate for Laser Vision Correction.

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6. WHAT MAKES ME A GOOD CANDIDATE FOR LASER VISION CORRECTION?
Over 95% of people that wear glasses or contacts are candidates for Laser Vision Correction. According to the FDA, you must be at least 18 years old and your glasses or contact lens prescription must be stable for at lease 1 year. Stability is defined as a change of .5 diopter or less in your prescription over the last year. You cannot be pregnant or nursing; you cannot have collagen vascular disease. You cannot be taking Accutane or Cordarone. Assuming your corneas are thick enough, I can treat up to about -14 diopters of nearsightedness, +6 diopters of farsightedness and 6 diopters of astigmatism. I need to measure your corneal thickness to determine if you have enough corneal tissue available to be safely treated with Laser Vision Correction. Also, you will need corneal topography (a topographical "picture" of your eye) to make sure you do not have corneal irregularities that will prevent you from having a good result. We will do all these tests at your complimentary (i.e. free) consultation.

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7. WHY IS THE FDA INVESTIGATING LASIK COMPLAINTS?
Over 700,000 FDA-approved LASIK procedures are performed annually in the United States. LASIK, when performed correctly on properly evaluated LASIK candidates, by an experienced LASIK Surgeon, using properly maintained state-of-the-art equipment, is an extremely safe and satisfying procedure, but there are LASIK risks, which, fortunately are not common. However, if LASIK is not performed meticulously on properly screened candidates, the incidence of complications will increase. Understandably, LASIK patients that are dissatisfied with their outcome are disappointed, angry and vocal. I appreciate the FDA's concern in investigating LASIK complaints and helping identify sources of potential, or real problems with LASIK. In my opinion, the "problem" with LASIK is not the procedure itself when performed meticulously. The "problem" with LASIK is the potential for complications when LASIK is not performed meticulously. When LASIK is performed in LASIK "clinics" whose primary goal is to perform as many procedures as possible without concern for quality, in a careless, sloppy environment without proper MD medical supervision, the procedure becomes much riskier. This is the area that, I think, needs FDA scrutiny.

As a testimony to the safety of LASIK, after extensive evaluation by the US Navy, LASIK (with the VISX Star S4 Customvue and Intralase) has been, and is presently being, successfully performed on US Navy fighter pilots. The Navy has spent millions of dollars training each of these pilots and is entrusting these pilots to land $20 million dollar planes on billion dollar aircraft carriers, at night, in the middle of the ocean! This is testimony to the efficacy of properly performed LASIK. For further information, I would like to refer you to the FDA LASIK Web Site, (http://www.fda.gov/CDRH/LASIK/).

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Phone (303)393-0347
Fax (303)393-1026

Rose Medical Plaza, 4545 East Ninth Avenue, #270, Denver, CO 80220

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The Levinson Eye Clinic, in Denver Colorado, and its laser vision correction surgeon, Dr. Richard A. Levinson, M.D., provide the latest technology in eye care and Lasik vision correction surgery for Custom Wavefront Lasik in the Denver and Boulder Metro area. Dr. Levinson and his refractive eye surgery staff use the Visx Star S4 excimer laser for Lasik or PRK refractive eye surgery with Customvue Wavefront Lasik. Contact Dr. Levinson and his Denver, Colorado laser vision correction staff for more information or to schedule a complimentary Custom Lasik vision correction consultation.

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