You’ve made the decision to explore LASIK surgery, but the one thing holding you back is that you’ll have to take a break from your contacts before the LASIK consultation. After all, who likes to run or go to the gym in glasses? While it seems inconvenient to break away from your contacts for a few days, we think once you understand the reason why, you will agree that it’s worth it.
Why You Need a Break From Contacts Before Your LASIK Consultation
At Providence Eye & Laser Specialists, our LASIK surgeon, Dr. Nunnery, has a very specific protocol for a successful LASIK consultation based on tens of thousands of procedures. His instructions include:
- Discontinue sleeping in your contacts at least 10 days before your LASIK consultation.
- If you wear contacts for astigmatism (toric lenses), discontinue wear for 10 days before your LASIK consultation.
- If you wear regular contacts, discontinue use five days before the LASIK consultation.
3 Reasons You Can’t Wear Contacts Before Your LASIK Consultation
- Inflammation — Contacts are made of synthetic material. Even with the best care, dirt and germs can get on your contacts and in your eye, creating inflammation. Although this may not affect your vision, it does affect test results during your LASIK consultation, which are necessary to determine if you are an ideal LASIK candidate.
- Corneal Distortion — Contacts are like miniature suction cups directly on top of your corneas. These mini suction cups tend to distort the shape of your corneas. Wearing toric lenses for astigmatism or sleeping in regular contact lenses can distort your corneas even more. To determine if you are an ideal candidate during your LASIK consultation, your surgeon needs to evaluate your corneas in their most natural shape without distortion.
- False Information — The diagnostic equipment used during the cornea evaluation process is extremely sensitive in order to provide the necessary information. If you do not follow the recommendation of no contacts before your LASIK consultation, then the diagnostic test may return false information, making it difficult to know if you are an ideal LASIK candidate.
Even though going a few days with no contacts may seem inconvenient, our No. 1 goal is to provide you with a safe, long-lasting vision correction procedure.
What’s Next?
Go ahead and get your calendar out! Find a time that would work best for you and then schedule your complimentary LASIK consultation at Providence Eye. Just imagine how awesome it will be to run, go for a walk, or do yoga after LASIK, free of glasses or contacts! See more and live better.
