Anyone who wishes to reduce their dependence on glasses or contact lenses is a potential candidate for corrective laser eye surgery. If you are over the age of 20 and have had no significant change in the strength of your spectacle lenses for at least 12 months, then you may well be suitable for laser vision treatment. As everyones eyes are unique the best way to determine your suitability for laser eye surgery is to have one of our no obligation free laser eye assessments. Your free laser eye surgery assessment is a half hour consultation with an experienced member of our technical team. At your laser eye surgery assessment your eyes are scanned to analyse the cornea, we record your vision and determine your prescription. We explain how your eyes work and advise you on the most appropriate treatment option for you.
We offer free laser eye surgery assessments with a member of our technical team to advise you of your suitability. The most common reason that prevents people from having corrective laser eye surgery is an irregular shape to the cornea (front surface of the eye) such as keratoconus or “conical cornea”. A free eye laser screening with a member of our technical team is a half hour assessment, it includes scanning of the front surface of your eye to carefully analyse the shape of your cornea.
If you are found to be suitable for laser vision correction after the free screening assessment, the next step is to have a consultation with Dr David Kent at Fendalton Eye Clinic in Christchurch, this is a thorough optical and medical examination of your eyes prior to treatment. If you are outside of the range that can be treated with LASIK, SMILE eye laser or PRK laser surgery, Dr. Kent may be able to offer you other surgical options.
Theoretically there is no upper age limit for laser vision eye surgery but with advancing age the chance of developing cloudiness of the natural lens called cataract increases. In practice we find that most people by the seventh decade of their life have some sign of cataract. In this case a lens replacement procedure would be a preferable long term surgical intervention over corrective laser eye surgery. Further information is available lifestyle lenses or cataract.
Our complimentary screening assessment with a technician is not a full eye examination and we do not prescribe spectacles. The readings we take at the initial screening assessment are to determine if you are suitable for a refractive procedure, it is not a substitute for a comprehensive eye examination with an optometrist or an ophthalmologist.
The best way to find out if you are suitable for laser vision correction is to have a free laser eye surgery assessment with a member of our technical team. Free screening assessments for laser eye surgery are available in Christchurch at Fendalton Eye Clinic and at our regular mobile clinics in Invercargill, Dunedin, Queenstown, Nelson and Blenheim. The free eye laser assessment is to advise you of your suitability for LASIK, SMILE eye laser or PRK laser eye surgery. During your assessment we will discuss how the eye works. We will explain the focusing issues that you have and what your options are for clearer vision without spectacles or contact lenses. As part of this assessment we will perform a computerised mapping (corneal topography) of the shape of the front surface (cornea) of you eyes to accurately analysis the shape of your corneas. The screening tests are non-invasive. A computer is used to check the focus (refraction) of your eyes and measure the thickness of your cornea. With this information we can then advise you of the best treatment option for you.
A screening assessment with a technician is not a full medical eye examination and we do not prescribe spectacles, it is not a substitute for a comprehensive eye examination with an optometrist or a medical eye consultation with an ophthalmologist.
If you are a contact lenses wearer we request that you bring a container to put your contact lenses into so that we can conduct the computer analysis of your eyes, at the screening assessment. We also request that you bring your most recent pair of prescription spectacles with you to the free eye laser assessment.
Your prescription and the shape of your cornea must be stable prior to laser eye surgery. If you are a contact lens wearer we will advise you as to the period of time that you will be required to cease wearing contact lenses prior to your laser eye treatment.
