The preoperative eye examination will determine whether or not you are a suitable candidate for cataract surgery.  The following are guidelines for preparation for the preoperative eye examination for cataract surgery at TRSC.

1. Refrain from wearing contact lenses

Amount of time required to stay out of contact lenses (minimum): -  Soft contact lenses: 3 days before the exam and surgery -  Rigid Gas Permeable (RGP) Hard lenses: 14 days before the exam and surgery This may sound like a great inconvenience, but there is good reason for it. Contact lenses come into direct contact with the cornea, and can temporarily change its curvature. Rigid contact lenses have more of an effect than soft contact lenses. Even after the lens has been removed from the eye, its effect can still remain for up to approximately 3 days in the case of soft lenses, and 14 days or more for rigid contact lenses. The effect on the cornea’s curvature will affect the accuracy of the preoperative measurements and the intraocular lens calculations. During the examination, the ophthalmologist will look at the shape of your corneas and decide whether the measurement results are interpretable. If not, then you may have to continue without the contact lenses for a few days longer and return for repeat measurements. Listed above are the minimal guidelines, however the longer you can stop wearing contact lenses, the better.

2. Arrangement for transportation

         One of the most important steps of the preoperative examination is dilation of your pupils. As a result, you will experience some blurriness in your vision. The following symptoms may also occur:

3. Get a health check-up with your general physician including a panel of blood tests to determine your overall health status. This is required before surgery, not the preoperative exam, however the sooner the surgeon knows your health status, the better. Please see the section Preparation for cataract surgery for more details on the required blood tests. Your surgeon needs to know about any systemic health conditions such as hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, or autoimmune diseases.  In cases of severe or serious disease, it is recommended to obtain your general physician’s approval for surgery.

4. Stop certain medications

Please provide us with a list of medications as soon as possible before your examination so that we may let you know if you need to stop any of them. Some medications may interfere with the accuracy of measurements or complicate the surgery.

5. Women who are pregnant or nursing

              It is not advised for women who are pregnant or trying to become pregnant to have vision correction surgery until at least 2 menstrual cycles after giving birth.  The reason for this is that the change in hormones can temporarily affect vision, and therefore any treatment performed may not be accurate. 

6. Choosing a surgeon

         The doctor who examines your eyes will also perform your surgery. Therefore if you prefer a specific doctor for the surgery, you must make an appointment with that doctor for the preoperative eye examination.
         - Please note that if the surgery day is more than 3 months after your preoperative eye examination, you will need to go through a repeat preoperative eye examination (cost 1,000 THB). This repeat of tests is essential because it assures for consistent results, in case your eyes have changed or developed any type of problems during that time gap.

7. The pre-operative eye examination will take approximately 3.5 hours.

8. Making an appointment

         An appointment is needed prior to the eye exam and surgery. You may call Tel. 66-2-7332020 or inter@lasikthai.com to schedule an appointment.