Can You Have LASIK Eye Surgery If You Have a Thin Retina?

LASIK surgery uses a laser on the front part of the eye to correct a person's vision so that he or she can see without the use of glasses or contacts. It does this by reshaping the cornea. The laser is not used on the retina, which is in the back of the eye

Cornea

• The cornea is the clear part of the front of the eye. It, along with the lens inside the eye, bends light from the world so that it is focused on the retina in the back of the eye.

Refractive Error

• Refractive error occurs when the cornea does not properly bend light so that it falls on the retina. If the cornea bends light too much, this results in nearsightedness. If it does not bend light enough, this results in farsightedness. Both of these can be corrected by LASIK.

LASIK Surgery

• LASIK corrects refractive error by using a laser to remove tissue from the cornea, reshaping it so that light from the world is bent correctly to land on the retina in the back of the eye.

LASIK and Thin Corneas

• The cornea loses tissue in LASIK surgery. The higher the prescription, the more tissue that must be removed. This is often impossible to do--with very nearsighted prescriptions especially--if the cornea is thinner than average. In these cases there is simply not enough tissue to remove to fully correct the vision.

LASIK and Thin Retinas

• The LASIK laser is only used on the cornea and does not involve the retina. In extremely rare cases, the suction cup applied to the eye before the laser has caused a retinal detachment in those with thin retinas who are already at risk for detachment. Some doctors might be more comfortable with a alternative procedures such as Lasek or PRK, which do not involve the suction ring.