Children and Lasik eye surgery

Children and Lasik eye surgery

The eye problems that need special attention occur in both young and adults. Both young and adults can see symptoms that require a particular corrective measure like Lasik eye surgery. There’s no doubt that Lasik eye surgery is the best option to correct or reshape the cornea. Once you start seeing some symptoms like myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, and the like, then you might need to undergo LASIK. Please note that the first thing to do is consult your eye doctor.

However, there’s been a controversy about the best laser eye surgery for treating some eye problems in Children. Remember, children at their tender age also suffer from some eye problems like adults. I have seen a kid battling farsightedness. So, can children go for Lasik eye surgery? If children go for LASIK, what are the likely results? We are going to do justice to these questions. 

Do you have a kid that is battling with either myopia or hyperopia? And you’ve been thinking about consulting an eye doctor to ask if the kid can undergo Lasik eye surgery. Please wait a minute. There are some things you need to know regarding children and LASIK. How will you feel if we hit the nail on the head by saying Lasik eye surgery is not meant for kids? Will this not trigger some questions? We know you’ll start thinking otherwise. You will be curious to know how children will treat eye problems if not by undergoing LASIK eye surgery. 

Dear reader, the essence of putting this together is to provide adequate information regarding children and Lasik eye surgery. Therefore, please shun all distractions and pay rapt attention. But before we proceed, it would be nice to talk about what LASIK entails. Perhaps, you will begin to judge if it is worth it for children to undergo this procedure.

Children and Lasik eye surgery

What is Lasik eye surgery? 

Lasik surgery uses a laser to resolve, reshape, and correct the cornea of the eye whenever there’s a vision problem. So, what happens doing Lasik surgery? There’s a thin cornea flap in the upper layers of the cornea. The flap is lifted. The work of a laser is to reshape the corneal tissue underneath. The essence of doing this is to ensure that light focuses better on the retina. So, when the process is carried out carefully, the corneal flap is restored to its original state. This remarkable process remains one of the most used strategies for correcting vision problems. However, one must not forget that this process requires specialized knowledge in its operation. This implies that a competent Lasik eye Surgeon must be the one to handle your eye if you want to tell a positive story about how this process restores your vision. Learn more qualities of a Lasik eye surgery candidate.

Children and Lasik eye surgery

Children and LASIK

The topic of whether kids should undergo Lasik eye surgery is a serious one. Some eye doctors believe that children can experience the process, while others think it could affect them since they are kids. An eye doctor who believed that children should not undergo the operation said it is a risk to allow kids to undergo eye surgery at their formative stage. The eye doctor also said that one could not quickly judge or conclude that a child’s eye concern is a problem. They could be at their formative stage, and it is normal for them to experience some difficulties because they are still growing. For instance, you don’t expect a child of three to see things from a far distance like an adult would do. The kid’s eye is still in the process of formation. So, he concluded that LASIK is not meant for children. 

Children and Lasik eye surgery

To bolster the above point, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in the US has not yet approved Lasik eye surgery for people under 18. We began to look for the reason behind that. From our research, we find out that there are psychological facts that one can build on. So, this implies that one can also join the league of people that support the idea of refraining children from undergoing LASIK.

What are the psychological facts that negate children going for LASIK?

  1. Fear: During Lasik eye surgery, patients are awake in most cases. With that said, staying awake can be unbearable for kids. The fear of seeing the Ophthalmologist trying to put a tiny rod into their eyes can affect the procedure. This means the chance of carrying out this surgery with kids is slim. One thing about fear is that fear grips the heart to make things impossible. So, a child can lose his sight if he undergoes LASIK fearfully. Then, what can we do to cast out fear in such a child? It is practically impossible. 
  2. The risk of LASIK: Generally, Lasik eye surgery has its risk whether it is carried out on children or adults. Complications like bleeding, swelling, and retinal detachment can occur after the surgery. Can you imagine how hard it would be for kids to undergo a surgery that may likely lead to another surgery? We’ve heard about adults who have to do another surgery after LASIK because of complications. Adults can quickly come out of the shell of undergoing another stress of going for another surgery. But kids can go down mentally and emotionally. 
  3. Chances of doing Lasik eye surgery again: If you allow a kid to undergo this process, the kids may likely go for the surgery again. This is because the surgeon might not do what he ought to do during the procedure due to fear and some inadequacies. So, with that, children are at risk of coming back to the theatre room to solve that eye problem with LASIK again. That is why some countries like the US, Australia, and the like will not allow underage children to do Lasik eye surgery.

Conclusion

Dear reader, hopefully, you’ve found something instructive and educative. The link to this page is what you can share with friends and family. Finally, kindly drop your question in the comment box. Also, if you have a contribution or an ideology regarding this topic, don’t hesitate to share it with us.