Health Tip: Before You Have Lasik Surgery

(HealthDay News) -- Before you sign up for the vision-correcting procedure known as Lasik, make sure you have both the short view and the long view of how your vision will be affected.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology offers the following information:

• Lasik may not give you perfect vision. Seven of 10 patients achieve 20/20 vision, but 20/20 doesn''t always mean perfect vision.
• If you have Lasik to correct your distance vision, you''ll still need reading glasses around age 45.
• The procedure is too new to know if there are any long-term ill effects beyond five years of surgery.
• Lasik can''t be reversed.
• Most insurance doesn''t cover the surgery.

-- Felicity Stone

Last Updated: Sept. 19, 2005