Why can’t every patient choose a specific laser vision correction procedure on their own?

Diagnostics before laser vision correction is very precise. Although about 90% of patients presenting to ophthalmologists qualify for the procedure, and myopia, hyperopia and 99% of cases of astigmatism are laser-correctable defects, not every patient can choose a correction method from all those available at a given clinic. Why?

Only if your cornea has the right thickness, and the other parameters of the eye planned to be operated on with the laser, checked by the specialist, are correct (read: ideal), the doctor can give you a choice between different procedures. But such a perfect eye with textbook parameters does not happen often – especially in people who have a large visual defect.

If you can’t choose the method (procedure) of laser vision correction yourself, and this happens most often, your doctor will indicate which one or ones are best for you and discuss their specifics. Be aware that there are no better or worse methods of laser vision correction. There are so many of them (and new ones are still being developed) that it is possible to choose the most appropriate method for the different anatomical needs of the eye. Whether and by which method laser vision correction is possible is ultimately determined by the ratio of corrected diopters to corneal thickness.

Different eye defects are corrected by different methods. Surface methods are not suitable for the correction of farsightedness or high astigmatism, and the lasik/femtolasik method is not suitable for the correction of visual defects with thin corneas. The latest surgical technologies make it possible to combine short/long-sightedness surgery with the simultaneous removal of other visual defects, such as astigmatism.

Regardless of the final choice of the procedure, every time laser vision correction has a so-called “eye”. architecture of the procedure. This means that before the refractive surgeon proceeds, the laser is programmed very precisely thanks to calculations made for the specific eye. To ensure that these calculations are not subject to the risk of error and that the operation is as fast as possible, modern ophthalmic lasers are supported by artificial intelligence algorithms.