Can Laser Eye Surgery Correct Farsightedness? What Makes Someone a Candidate

The phone bill sits on the kitchen table, and Marcus is holding it at arm’s length again. He is 31, he has never been able to read fine print comfortably, and by evening his eyes ache the way legs do after a long shift. His optometrist told him years ago that he was farsighted. What she did not tell him is whether laser eye surgery for farsightedness would actually work on eyes like his, or whether that option belongs to nearsighted people only.

It is a fair question, and the honest answer has more texture than most advertisements allow. Farsightedness is a different optical problem from nearsightedness, and a laser has to do something different to fix it. That difference shapes who is a strong candidate, who is asked to wait, and what a realistic result looks like.

What follows is the conversation Marcus deserves: how the procedure works on a farsighted eye, what the pre-operative exam is really measuring, and which trade-offs a careful surgeon will put on the table before anyone books a date.

Can laser eye surgery correct farsightedness?

The short version is yes, within limits that matter. Laser refractive surgery reshapes the cornea, the clear dome at the front of the eye, to change how it bends light. For a farsighted eye, the laser steepens the central cornea so that incoming rays converge a little sooner and land on the retina rather than behind it. Both LASIK and the surface procedures (PRK and its variant LASEK) can do this, and MedlinePlus lists farsightedness among the refractive errors LASIK is designed to treat.

The limits come from physics and tissue. Steepening a cornea means removing more tissue around the center than in the middle, which is a larger and more delicate sculpting job than the central flattening used for nearsightedness. The Mayo Clinic notes that results are generally most predictable for lower degrees of refractive error, and that people with a high degree of farsightedness, especially when combined with astigmatism, have less predictable outcomes. That is not a reason to rule the surgery out. It is a reason to insist on a thorough evaluation rather than a quick quote.

Surgeons also weigh what the eye will be doing in ten years. A farsighted person in their late 30s is only a few years away from presbyopia, the age-related stiffening of the lens that makes reading harder for everyone. Correcting distance vision with a laser does nothing to stop that process, and the Mayo Clinic is explicit that you may still need reading glasses in your 40s even after a good result.

So the useful framing is not “can it be done” but “is my particular eye, at my particular age, a good fit for this particular tool.” The rest of this article works through that question piece by piece.

Why farsightedness is a different problem than nearsightedness

Nearsighted eyes are too long, or their corneas too curved, so light focuses in front of the retina. Farsighted eyes have the opposite anatomy. According to the Mayo Clinic, hyperopia occurs when the eyeball is shorter than average or the cornea is curved too little, so light aims at a point behind the retina. Near objects blur first because their light needs the most bending to come into focus.

There is a twist that matters for younger adults. The eye’s natural lens can change shape to add focusing power, a reflex called accommodation. MedlinePlus explains that many farsighted people, particularly children and young adults, unconsciously use this reflex to sharpen their vision, which is why mild hyperopia can go undiagnosed for years and often shows up as eye strain, headaches, or tiredness after reading rather than as obvious blur. Marcus’s aching eyes at the end of the day are that reflex working overtime.

Prescriptions are written in diopters, a unit describing how strongly a lens must bend light. A plus sign means farsightedness. Optometrists sometimes measure two numbers for a hyperope: the “manifest” refraction you accept with your focusing muscle active, and the larger “cycloplegic” refraction found after drops temporarily relax that muscle. The gap between them is hidden farsightedness, and a laser surgeon needs to know it exists.

Why does this matter for surgery? Because the target the laser is programmed toward has to be the true, fully relaxed prescription. Correct only the manifest number and the eye may look fine at 28, then drift toward blur as accommodation weakens with age. A good pre-operative workup for hyperopia therefore almost always includes dilating drops, and it is one small sign that the clinic understands what makes a farsighted eye different.

How laser eye surgery for farsightedness works, step by step

Picture the cornea as a contact lens that happens to be part of you, roughly half a millimeter thick at its center. Laser eye surgery for farsightedness reshapes that living lens by removing microscopic amounts of tissue with an excimer laser, an ultraviolet laser that vaporizes tissue with almost no heat. To steepen the surface, the laser takes more tissue from a ring around the center than from the middle, so the center ends up relatively taller.

In LASIK, the surgeon first creates a thin hinged flap in the outer cornea, either with a precise oscillating blade or with a femtosecond laser, an infrared laser that makes a cut using tiny bubbles inside the tissue. The flap is folded back, the excimer laser reshapes the exposed bed for less than a minute, and the flap is laid back in place, where it adheres on its own without stitches. The Mayo Clinic describes the whole procedure as taking about 30 minutes or less for both eyes, with numbing drops rather than injections.

Surface procedures skip the flap. In PRK, the surgeon removes the epithelium, the cornea’s outermost cell layer, and applies the laser directly to the surface; the epithelium then regrows over several days. LASEK preserves and repositions that layer instead. The optical result is the same, but the healing path is different, which we cover later.

Modern platforms track the eye’s tiny movements hundreds of times a second and pause if the eye strays, and many use a map of the cornea’s shape to guide the pattern. For hyperopia, the treatment zone is usually wider than for nearsightedness because the steepening ring has to sit outside the pupil in dim light. That is one reason pupil size and corneal diameter are measured so carefully during the consultation.

LASIK, PRK or lens surgery: which options treat hyperopia?

Laser correction is not the only surgical route for a farsighted eye, and a fair consultation lays out the whole menu. The NHS groups the options into laser eye surgery, which reshapes the cornea, and lens surgery, which either adds an artificial lens inside the eye or replaces the natural lens. Which route makes sense depends heavily on age, prescription strength, and corneal health.

Option	What changes	Typically considered when	Recovery notes
LASIK	Cornea reshaped under a flap	Mild to moderate hyperopia, adequate corneal thickness, stable prescription	Vision often usable within days; full stabilization can take two to three months (Mayo Clinic)
PRK / LASEK	Cornea reshaped at the surface, no flap	Thinner corneas, active lifestyles or jobs with facial-injury risk	More discomfort for several days; the NHS notes slower recovery than LASIK
Phakic lens implant	Artificial lens added in front of the natural lens	Prescriptions beyond what laser can safely treat, younger adults	Involves entering the eye; natural focusing preserved
Refractive lens exchange	Natural lens replaced with an artificial one	Older adults with presbyopia or early lens changes (NHS)	Same operation as cataract surgery; removes natural accommodation
Glasses or contact lenses	Nothing surgical	Anyone; the default for children and unstable prescriptions	No healing period; ongoing cost of upkeep varies

A third laser technique, small-incision lenticule extraction (SMILE), removes a disc of tissue through a keyhole opening. The NHS lists it among current laser options, but it has mainly been used for nearsightedness, so it is not the usual tool for hyperopia.

The lens-based options deserve attention because they are often the honest answer for stronger farsightedness. Steepening a cornea by several diopters can push the surgeon toward the edge of what the tissue tolerates, whereas an implanted lens simply carries the prescription. None of these choices is better in the abstract; the right one is the one that fits the eye in front of the surgeon.

Who is a good candidate for LASIK for hyperopia?

Candidacy is less a checklist than a portrait, but the features surgeons look for are consistent across major sources. The Mayo Clinic describes the strongest candidates as adults aged 18 or older whose prescription has been stable for at least a year, whose corneas are thick and regularly shaped, and whose eyes are otherwise healthy, with no glaucoma, cataract, or significant dry eye.

For LASIK for hyperopia specifically, a few of those features carry extra weight. Corneal thickness matters more because the steepening pattern removes tissue over a wider area. The corneal map, produced by a test called topography that measures the surface curvature at thousands of points, has to show a smooth, symmetric shape; any hint of keratoconus, a condition in which the cornea thins and bulges into a cone, is a firm reason to decline laser surgery. Pupil size in dim light is measured because a large pupil can extend past the treated zone and produce night glare.

Age sits at the center of the decision in a way it does not for nearsightedness. The sweet spot for hyperopic laser correction tends to be adults who are past the years when prescriptions shift but still comfortably before presbyopia. A farsighted 25-year-old with a stable plus-two prescription and thick corneas is, optically, a very reasonable candidate. The same prescription in a 48-year-old raises different questions, because a laser aimed at distance will leave reading blurry.

Tear film health rounds out the picture. The Mayo Clinic notes that LASIK temporarily reduces tear production, so someone who already uses artificial tears daily is starting from a deficit. Surgeons often treat dry eye first and re-measure, rather than proceed and hope. That patience is a good sign, not a delay to be talked out of.

Who is usually asked to wait, and who is usually told no

The line between “not yet” and “not for you” is worth understanding, because they lead to very different conversations. “Not yet” usually means something measurable is expected to change. The Mayo Clinic advises against LASIK during pregnancy or breastfeeding, because hormonal shifts can alter the cornea and the prescription; the eye is remeasured after those changes settle. A prescription that moved in the past year falls in the same category. So does a recent course of certain medicines that affect healing, which the surgeon will want completed before operating.

Contact lens wear is a temporary reason too. Lenses subtly mold the cornea, and the Mayo Clinic notes that you will be asked to stop wearing them for a period before the evaluation, longer for rigid lenses than for soft ones, so the measurements reflect the eye’s true shape.

“Not for you” reflects a fixed feature of the eye or body. The Mayo Clinic lists corneas that are too thin or irregular, keratoconus or a family history of it, severe dry eye that has not responded to treatment, uncontrolled autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus, a weakened immune system, and eye disease such as glaucoma or cataract. A farsighted prescription strong enough that safe laser steepening would leave too little tissue also belongs here, and a good surgeon will say so and redirect toward lens-based options rather than stretch the laser’s range.

People who box, wrestle, or play contact sports are sometimes steered away from a flap procedure toward a surface one, since a flap can be displaced by a direct blow even years later. A job with an unusually demanding night vision standard, such as some professional driving or aviation roles, warrants a frank talk about glare and halos before committing.

None of these answers is a judgment on the person. They are the surgeon protecting an eye that has to last a lifetime.

Farsightedness after 40: how presbyopia complicates the plan

Around the fourth decade, the eye’s natural lens gradually loses its ability to change shape, and reading at arm’s length becomes the new normal. The Mayo Clinic describes this presbyopia as a universal part of aging that laser surgery does not prevent. For a farsighted person, it arrives with a particular sting: the same accommodation reflex that quietly masked their hyperopia for years is now fading, so both distance and near vision can feel like they are slipping at once.

This is why laser eye surgery for someone in their mid-40s who is farsighted is a genuinely different proposition than for someone at 28. A laser programmed to correct distance will leave the eye with no reserve for near work, and reading glasses become part of daily life almost immediately. Some people are content with that trade. Others feel they exchanged one pair of glasses for another.

Surgeons address the tension in a few ways. Monovision aims one eye for distance and the other for near, letting the brain choose whichever image is sharper; it works well for some people and feels unsettling to others, which is why it is normally trialed with contact lenses first. Some laser platforms shape a modest depth-of-focus profile into the cornea. Refractive lens exchange, discussed earlier, replaces the aging lens with an artificial one, and the NHS notes lens surgery is more commonly offered to older adults for exactly this reason, sometimes with a multifocal lens design.

What deserves emphasis is that none of these approaches restores youthful focusing. They redistribute a fixed amount of clarity across distances. A candid surgeon will show you, with trial lenses, what each compromise feels like before you choose. If the consultation skips that step and moves straight to scheduling, ask why.

Can you have LASIK for farsightedness and astigmatism at the same time?

Usually, yes. Astigmatism means the cornea is shaped more like the side of a rugby ball than a basketball, curving more steeply in one direction than the other, so light forms a smeared focus rather than a point. Modern excimer lasers can correct that asymmetry in the same treatment that steepens the cornea for hyperopia; the software simply removes slightly different amounts of tissue along different meridians.

Combining the two does add complexity. The treatment pattern for LASIK for farsightedness and astigmatism is larger and less symmetric than for either error alone, which means more tissue overall and a greater demand on the eye to heal predictably. The Mayo Clinic specifically flags high farsightedness together with astigmatism as a combination with less predictable results. In practice, a mild-to-moderate mix on a thick, healthy cornea is treated routinely, while a strong mix prompts a discussion of lens-based alternatives.

The pre-operative mapping earns its keep here. Topography distinguishes regular astigmatism, which is symmetric and correctable, from irregular astigmatism, which can hint at early keratoconus and is a reason to decline laser surgery. Surgeons also check whether the astigmatism measured by the corneal map matches the astigmatism in the glasses prescription. When the two disagree, part of the astigmatism lives inside the eye, in the lens, and treating the cornea for it may overshoot.

A practical consequence: if you have both errors, expect the consultation to take longer and to involve more scans, not fewer. The surgeon is checking that the two problems can be solved with a single, safe pattern. If they can, one procedure handles both. If they cannot, that is precisely the moment you want to hear it.

What the days and weeks after surgery usually look like

The first evening is the strange one. Most people notice that their vision is already different within hours of LASIK, but it is hazy, as though a window has been breathed on, and the eyes feel gritty and sensitive to light. The Mayo Clinic advises arranging a ride home and resting with the eyes closed for the first hours. Rubbing the eye is the one thing everyone is told not to do, because the flap is held in place by suction and cell adhesion, not stitches, in those early days.

By the next morning, many LASIK patients can see well enough for ordinary tasks, and the surgeon checks the flap at a follow-up visit within a day or two. Surface procedures follow a slower arc. The epithelium has to regrow, which typically takes several days of noticeable discomfort under a protective contact lens, and the NHS notes that recovery of clear vision is slower than with LASIK. People who choose PRK often plan a week away from screen-heavy work.

Drops are part of life for a while: an antibiotic to prevent infection, an anti-inflammatory to calm healing, and lubricants for dryness. The surgeon sets the schedule and adjusts it at each visit, and that schedule is theirs to change, not the patient’s.

Vision keeps fluctuating for longer than most people expect. The Mayo Clinic states that it may take two to three months before the eye fully heals and vision stabilizes, and that hyperopic corrections are among those where the settling period matters most. Night glare and halos are common early and, per the Mayo Clinic, usually ease over days to weeks. Dryness can linger up to around six months. Prescriptions for driving are only finalized once things stop moving, which is why sensible clinics avoid promising a specific reading on a specific date.

What's the downside of laser eye surgery for farsighted eyes?

Every honest discussion of the downside of laser eye surgery starts with dry eye, because it is the complaint that outlasts the others. LASIK cuts through corneal nerves that signal the tear glands, and the Mayo Clinic notes that tear production drops for roughly the first six months, with a minority of people experiencing symptoms for longer. Someone already prone to dryness starts at a disadvantage, which is why it is treated before surgery rather than after.

Visual quality issues come next. Glare, halos around lights, and difficulty seeing at night are described by both the Mayo Clinic and the NHS as common in the early weeks and usually improving. Because hyperopic treatments use a wider pattern and steepen the center, some people notice a subtle change in how sharp fine detail looks even when the eye chart says 20/20. That is a real phenomenon, and it is worth asking about directly.

Undercorrection and overcorrection happen when the eye heals slightly differently than modeled. The Mayo Clinic lists both, and adds that for farsightedness, outcomes are less predictable at higher prescriptions. Some drift back toward the original error can occur over time, and an enhancement, a second smaller laser treatment, may be discussed if enough tissue remains.

Flap-specific problems belong to LASIK alone: wrinkles, debris beneath the flap, or abnormal epithelial growth under its edge. Infection is uncommon but serious with any procedure that disturbs the corneal surface. Rarely, corneal weakening called ectasia develops, which is the main reason thin or irregular corneas are excluded. The Mayo Clinic also lists regression and, very rarely, loss of vision that glasses cannot fully restore.

Listing these is not fear-mongering. It is the content of informed consent, and any clinic that skims it is doing you a disservice.

Is LASIK worth it for farsightedness? A way to weigh it

Nobody outside your own head can answer whether LASIK is worth it for farsightedness, because “worth it” mixes optics with how much you dislike glasses, how you feel about a permanent change, and what you do for a living. What an evidence-first approach can do is sort the question into parts that can be measured and parts that cannot.

The measurable part is your eye. A stable, mild-to-moderate plus prescription on a thick, regular cornea with a healthy tear film sits squarely inside the range where the Mayo Clinic describes a very good chance of achieving 20/25 vision or better after refractive surgery. Move any of those variables toward the edge, thinner cornea, stronger prescription, dry eyes, and the odds of needing an enhancement or living with some residual error rise. The exam gives you that location on the map; a brochure cannot.

The temporal part is your age. A farsighted 26-year-old buys many years of glasses-free distance and near vision before presbyopia arrives. A farsighted 45-year-old may gain clear distance and immediately need readers. Same surgery, very different value, and no amount of enthusiasm changes the biology.

The personal part is tolerance. Some people are unbothered by a few months of dryness and a modest chance of night halos. Others, particularly those who drive professionally at night or do fine detail work, find those trade-offs unacceptable even at low probability. Neither reaction is wrong.

A useful test: write down, before the consultation, the one outcome that would make you regret the surgery. Then ask the surgeon, in plain terms, how likely that specific outcome is for an eye like yours, and what the plan would be if it happened. The quality of that answer tells you most of what you need to know.

What people often get wrong about laser eye surgery for farsightedness

“Laser surgery is only for nearsighted people.” It is more common for nearsightedness, partly because nearsightedness itself is more common in adults and partly because the flattening pattern is simpler. But MedlinePlus and the Mayo Clinic both list farsightedness among the errors LASIK treats. The distinction is about predictability at higher prescriptions, not eligibility as a category.

“If my glasses fix it, the laser will fix it just as well.” Glasses correct an unlimited range with no tissue cost. A laser has a finite budget of cornea to work with, and hyperopic patterns spend that budget faster. Above a certain point the surgeon will recommend a lens-based option instead, and that recommendation is sound practice rather than a rejection.

“Once it’s done, I’ll never need glasses again.” The Mayo Clinic is direct that refractive surgery does not prevent presbyopia, so reading glasses in the 40s remain likely, and a farsighted eye reaches that point with less accommodative reserve than most. Some regression toward the original error can also occur.

“Recovery is a day.” Usable vision may arrive in a day after LASIK, but the Mayo Clinic gives two to three months for full stabilization, and dryness can persist for about six months. Surface procedures take longer at the start.

“Children who are very farsighted should have it early.” Children’s prescriptions change as their eyes grow, and MedlinePlus notes that many outgrow mild farsightedness. Adult laser surgery is not offered before 18, and a pediatric eye specialist manages childhood hyperopia with glasses and monitoring.

“A stronger prescription just means a longer laser time.” It also means a wider treatment zone, more sensitivity to pupil size and centration, and a higher chance of needing an enhancement. Strength changes the risk profile, not only the duration.

Questions to ask your care team

A consultation is a two-way examination. You are checking the clinic’s judgment as carefully as they are checking your cornea, and the questions below tend to surface the answers that matter for a farsighted eye in particular.

• What is my full, dilated prescription, and how much hidden farsightedness did the drops reveal? Which number will the laser be programmed to?
• How thick is my cornea at its thinnest point, and how much tissue would this treatment remove? How much would remain in reserve for an enhancement, if one were ever needed?
• Does my corneal map show any irregularity that concerns you, and did you specifically screen for early keratoconus?
• Given my age, how many years of glasses-free reading would you realistically expect before presbyopia changes the picture? Would you suggest a monovision trial with contact lenses first?
• For an eye like mine, is a flap procedure or a surface procedure the better fit, and why? Would a lens-based option make more sense than laser at my prescription?
• What is your plan if I am undercorrected or drift back toward farsightedness over the next few years?
• How do you assess and treat dry eye before surgery, and what will you do if dryness persists past the usual months?
• What symptoms should prompt me to call you the same day, and how do I reach the on-call team outside office hours?
• What will follow-up look like over the first three months, and who performs those checks?

Notice what is missing: nothing here asks about speed, convenience, or what other patients said. Those things are pleasant but do not predict how your eye will heal. The answers to the questions above, given specifically and without hedging into sales language, do.

When to call your doctor

Most of the early sensations after laser eye surgery, grittiness, light sensitivity, watering, and fluctuating focus, are expected and settle over the first days and weeks. Some are not, and the difference is worth knowing before you go home rather than looking it up at midnight. Your surgical team will give you a direct line; use it without hesitation, because with corneal healing, early attention changes outcomes.

Contact your surgeon the same day if you notice increasing rather than easing pain, especially pain that is not relieved by the drops and rest you were advised; a sudden drop in vision after it had been improving, or vision in one eye that becomes noticeably worse than the other; a rapidly reddening eye, thick discharge, or a white or gray spot on the cornea; new or worsening light sensitivity after the first couple of days; a sensation that something has shifted or wrinkled on the eye’s surface, particularly after rubbing or a knock, which can signal a displaced LASIK flap; or flashes of light, a shower of new floaters, or a curtain across part of your vision, which are not typical of laser surgery and need urgent assessment for a retinal problem.

Seek care promptly at any point, even years later, for a direct blow to a LASIK-treated eye, since the flap can be disturbed long after it has healed. Those with autoimmune conditions or on medicines that affect healing should report any change in their general health to the surgical team as well as to their prescribing clinician.

One more prompt that is easy to overlook: if, in the months after surgery, your near or distance vision is drifting back toward blur, or dryness is still limiting your day beyond the range the team described, book a review rather than assuming it is normal. Regression and persistent dry eye both have management options, and decisions about them belong with the surgeon who knows your eye.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get laser eye surgery if I'm farsighted?

Yes, many farsighted adults are candidates. LASIK and surface procedures such as PRK can steepen the cornea to correct mild to moderate hyperopia, and MedlinePlus lists farsightedness among the errors LASIK treats. Eligibility depends on a stable prescription, adequate corneal thickness, a regular corneal shape, healthy tears, and no eye disease. Stronger farsightedness may be better served by a lens-based procedure, which a full evaluation will clarify.

Is LASIK worth it for farsightedness?

It depends on your eye and your age more than on the procedure itself. A stable, mild-to-moderate prescription on a thick, healthy cornea in someone in their 20s or 30s sits in the range the Mayo Clinic describes as most predictable. Someone in their mid-40s may correct distance only to need reading glasses almost immediately. Weigh the exam findings and your tolerance for dryness and night glare with your surgeon.

What's the downside of laser eye surgery for hyperopia?

The most persistent downside is dry eye, which the Mayo Clinic notes can last around six months as corneal nerves recover. Glare and halos are common early and usually ease. Hyperopic treatments carry a higher chance of undercorrection or drift back toward farsightedness than low nearsighted treatments, sometimes needing an enhancement. Flap complications, infection, and rare corneal weakening are the serious risks a surgeon will explain during consent.

Does LASIK for hyperopia work as well as for nearsightedness?

For low prescriptions the results are comparable; for higher ones they are less predictable. The Mayo Clinic states that results are best for lower degrees of refractive error and that high farsightedness, particularly with astigmatism, gives less predictable outcomes. The reason is mechanical: steepening the cornea removes more tissue over a wider zone than flattening it does, so healing variability has more room to influence the final focus.

Can LASIK fix farsightedness and astigmatism together?

Usually, yes, in one treatment. Modern excimer lasers steepen the cornea for hyperopia while correcting the uneven curvature of regular astigmatism in the same pattern. The combination uses more tissue and is less predictable at higher levels, which the Mayo Clinic specifically notes. Irregular astigmatism on the corneal map, or astigmatism arising inside the eye rather than at the cornea, may change the plan or point toward a different procedure.

How long does recovery take after laser eye surgery for farsightedness?

Usable vision often returns within a day or two after LASIK, but the Mayo Clinic advises that full healing and stable vision can take two to three months, with dryness lasting about six months. Surface procedures such as PRK involve several more days of discomfort while the outer layer regrows, and the NHS notes slower visual recovery than LASIK. Fluctuating focus during this period is expected rather than a sign of failure.

Will I still need reading glasses after surgery for farsightedness?

Quite possibly, depending on your age. Laser surgery reshapes the cornea for a fixed focus, and the Mayo Clinic is clear that it does not prevent presbyopia, the age-related loss of near focusing that begins around the 40s. Farsighted eyes tend to feel this sooner because their focusing reserve was already being used to compensate. Monovision or lens-based options can be discussed, each with trade-offs.

Can farsightedness come back after LASIK?

Some drift back toward the original prescription, called regression, is possible and is listed by the Mayo Clinic among LASIK’s risks. It is discussed more often after hyperopic treatments, where the steepened cornea can partially flatten as it heals, and it can be compounded by presbyopia arriving with age. If enough corneal tissue remains, an enhancement may be an option; that decision rests with the surgeon after repeat measurements.

Is there an upper limit of farsightedness that laser surgery can treat?

Yes, though the exact limit is set eye by eye rather than by a single number. Steepening the cornea removes tissue over a wide zone, so the surgeon calculates how much would remain after treatment and whether the resulting shape stays optically sound. When a prescription would exceed what the cornea can safely give, a phakic lens implant or refractive lens exchange is usually proposed instead, as the NHS outlines.

What should I do before the consultation if I wear contact lenses?

Plan to stop wearing them before your measurements are taken. Contact lenses subtly reshape the cornea, and the Mayo Clinic notes that you will be asked to switch to glasses for a period beforehand, longer for rigid lenses than soft ones, so the scans reflect your eye’s natural shape. The clinic will give you the exact interval. Arriving with lenses in can mean repeating the whole evaluation.

References

• NHS: Laser eye surgery and lens surgery
• MedlinePlus: LASIK eye surgery
• MedlinePlus: Farsightedness

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a qualified doctor about your individual situation.