Appointments

MEDICAL HISTORY

During your appointment, you will be asked about your medical history, ocular history, medications, allergies, visual needs for work and recreation, and your visual goals. Giving this some thought in advance will help us counsel you toward your best option for vision correction.

CONTACT LENS WEAR

If you are a contact lens wearer, you may be asked to remove your lenses for a specific time period prior to your visit.
Contact lenses warp the corneal surface and lead to measurements that are not representative of your true refraction. The time interval required for removal depends upon the type of lens and how long you have been wearing them.

• Soft lensesAt least 2 weeks prior to your pre-operative exam At least 2 weeks prior to laser eye surgery
• Toric lensesAt least 2 weeks prior to your pre-operative exam At least 2 weeks prior to laser eye surgery
• Gas permeable lensesAt least 4 weeks prior to your pre-operative exam – if you have worn them for more than 10 years an additional week for each decade of wear is required At least 5 weeks prior to laser eye surgery
• True hard lenses (PMMA)At least 12 weeks prior to your pre-operative exam At least 13 weeks prior to laser eye surgery

Follow this advice in order to avoid unnecessary risk of complications or reduce the effectiveness of your laser eye surgery.

SOMEONE TO DRIVE YOU HOME

A comprehensive eye exam requires that your pupils be dilated with eye drops. This enables us to thoroughly examine and accurately measure the eye. The drops that are used are longer lasting than what you may be accustomed to from past visits to the eye doctor.

These will leave your vision somewhat blurry and brighter than normal for about four hours. We recommend that you bring a pair of dark sunglasses and a friend or family member to drive you home afterwards. We also offer a type of eye drop that reverses dilation (reducing the time to about one hour), although many patients prefer not to use it because it usually causes side effects of irritation and redness.

We at Seibel Vision Surgery have compiled the information on this site to help you make the most informed decisions regarding the welfare of your sight. We are delighted to be of service and are happy to answer any further questions you may have.