High myopes (nearsighted people with more than 6 Diopters) are very visually disabled. For this reason, we see many of them at our office requesting consultation for LASIK vision correction in Tysons Corner. Many of these patients are not candidates for the procedures, as LASIK requires that there be a thick enough cornea to allow tissue removal. Because high myopes require more tissue removal to fix the eyesight, the cornea has to be thicker than average if a high myope is going to qualify as a good candidate. So, there is a much higher percentage of non candidates among high myopes. That is too bad, because these are the folks that can really benefit from LASIK and have a difficult time with their vision problems.
When we finish a surgery on a high myope, it is so satisfying to watch their face as they first open their eyes! It is always a “wow” and then big smiles. They haven’t seen since they were 5 years old, and this procedure is a huge life changer.
On Friday, i think i operated on at least 10 high myopes. at least 5 of them were up near 10 Diopters, which is very high myopia. Thankfully for these people, they had very thick corneas and were very good candidates for the surgery. We did a police officer from Fairfax, a computer programmer from Reston, a scientist from Frederick Maryland and a Secret service agent from Springfield. There was also a baseball player from Chantilly, Va. When i add it all up, we probably corrected over 250 diopters of myopia on Friday! This is one of the best parts of my job, the incredible satisfaction that comes from changing people’s lives for the better. Many of these patients are so happy they begin crying!!!
In terms of healing, these high myopes will undergo a bit more glare in the first few weeks and have a longer fluctuation period. I recommend that higher prescriptions use vitamin C 1000 daily and also use sunglasses.
It is a fantastic feeling to work on these patients!
