LASIK For Older Adults

A new University of Illinois at Chicago study appearing in the online edition of the journal Ophthalmology reports on the safety, efficacy and predictability of laser eye surgery (laser in situ keratomileusis or LASIK) in patients 40-69 years old.

"We are seeing an increasing demand for LASIK surgery for older adults, who present special challenges," said study co-author Dr. Dimitri Azar, Field chair of ophthalmologic research at UIC.

In LASIK surgery, adjustments in correction are routinely made to compensate for the cornea's strong healing responses in younger patients, Azar said. Increased age has been previously associated with poorer final clarity of vision, as measured on an eye chart (visual acuity).

"We were able to show that fine adjustments in the correction to the cornea in our older patients that compensate for differences in age-related healing resulted in reliable predictability of correction," said Azar, who is also professor and head of the UIC department of ophthalmology and visual sciences.

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