It is the case that many medical treatments and surgical procedures come with caveats and limits based on a patient’s age and that most certainly applies to LASIK eye surgery. This means that when a laser eye surgery consultant is assessing your suitability for laser eye surgery, your age is going to be one of the factors they take into account, although not as much as they will consider the health of your eyes as a factor.
When people become aware of that fact, especially those who are older, they assume that means that there is an upper age limit for laser eye surgery. They are usually pleasantly surprised to learn that contrary to there being an upper age limit, there is instead, a lower age limit. For details on that and other advice relating to age and laser eye surgery, please continue reading.
Lower Age Limit for Eye Surgery
When a person turns 18 it means they can legally buy alcohol, gamble, obtain a mortgage, and vote in elections. It is also the age that they become eligible for laser eye surgery, although there are several caveats, so being 18 does not automatically make you a candidate for laser eye surgery.
Although you might be considered an adult, your body is still developing at 18 and that applies to your eyes. At 18 it might be that your prescription is changing or that your eyes have not fully developed, and for that reason, a laser eye surgeon would not regard you as a suitable candidate until your eyes have fully matured. If you are 18, only if your prescription has been constant for at least 2 years would a laser eye surgeon recommend the procedure.
From 18 to Mid-20s
Given what we have outlined concerning 18-year-old candidates for laser eye surgery, you will find that the youngest patients that a laser eye surgeon will ever treat will be aged between 21 and 25. By that age, the eye development should be complete and the corrective prescription for glasses or contact lenses will be constant. In most cases, laser eye surgeons would also want to know that the patient’s prescription has been the same for at least 2 years prior.
Aged 25 to 40
Ask any laser eye surgeon what age group are usually the ideal candidates for laser eye surgery and they will most likely tell you that it is those aged between 25 and 40 years of age. Between these ages, the issue of eye development experienced by younger people and many of the eye conditions and health issues suffered by older people are not a factor nor a complication, thus making this age group prime candidates for laser eye surgery.
Aged 40+
Let us just state that we are not saying someone who is over 40 is old, but for this outline of how age impacts a person’s suitability for laser eye surgery that is the age category laser eye surgery consultants will place them in. One point to reemphasise is that there is no upper age limit for laser eye surgery. So, provided the individual has no eye condition that would rule them out and their general health is good, their age would not automatically exclude them.