Not all people who want to have refractive surgery are suitable. To determine who is, it is necessary to go through a series of steps to ensure that someone seeking surgery has a good chance of a successful result, and understands the risks as well as the benefits. Wellington and Hawkes Bay Eye Centres have some of the most sophisticated equipment available in New Zealand for assessment of patients.
When you first contact the Eye Centre, we will begin to determine your suitability for refractive surgery. This will be done by booking a free suitability appointment with one of our technical staff, which takes about 40 minutes. This assessment is a preliminary assessment where we will determine your suitability to proceed with a full medical assessment (there is a cost for a medical assessment).
You will be asked to provide details of your current refractive error (that is, your glasses prescription), ideally recent measurements provided by an optometrist or ophthalmologist.
If you are wearing soft contact lenses you will be asked to leave these out for 48 hours prior to your first appointment. If you wear hard or RGP contact lenses, you will need to change to soft lenses, and have regular visits with your normal eye care provider until your refractive error stabilises. This can take several months.
At the suitability assessment we will:
If after this assessment you appear suitable for vision correction, then you can book a full medical assessment.
For areas outside of Wellington patients are co-managed with their Optometrist. If you wish to be assessed as to your possible suitability for Laser Vision Correction please make an appointment with your Optometrist on behalf of Wellington or Hawkes Bay Eye Centre. Your Optometrist will complete the suitability assessment and send the information to the eye centre. A small charge applies for this appointment, however if you proceed with Laser Surgery $80 will be deducted from the surgery fee.
Once you have this assessment the results will be received by the ophthalmologist who will perform the surgery and the eye centre will contact you to arrange a full medical assessment with him.
The medical assessment is with the eye surgeon and takes approximately 60 minutes. During this appointment we will check your focusing carefully, and the general health of your eyes.
The surgeon will further examine your eyes and discuss with you the best type of treatment for your eyes, tell you about the risks associated with refractive surgery, and your chances for a good outcome.
You have the opportunity to ask any questions. The medical assessment is at a nominal cost which is deducted off the price of surgery if you proceed.
It is important to understand that at no time will any pressure be placed on you to have refractive surgery and you can withdraw from the process at any time.
If you are suitable for, and want to have refractive surgery, an appointment can be made for surgery after this visit.
On the day of your procedure, when you first arrive at The Eye Centre we will check your informed consent document to make sure you have completed it correctly, and that any additional questions have been fully answered.
A member of The Eye Centre staff will then spend time with you to explain the procedure to be performed and what you will need to do following the surgery.
Prior to surgery you will be re seen by the operating surgeon who will discuss any points necessary. Following this the refractive surgery will be performed.
The surgery takes approximately 20 minutes.
You will be asked to return the following day to have your eye(s) checked and on day 6 or 7 after surgery to have the contact lens removed.
If you live outside of Wellington the day 6 or day 7 appointment will be arranged with your local Optometrist who will provide co-managed post operative care. The cost of this is included in the surgery fee.
For your post-operative care, follow-up visits will be arranged. These will vary, after the initial follow up, depending on your individual recovery.
For patients outside of Wellington post op care will be co-managed and arranged with your local Optometrist.
Routine follow-up visits are at one to three weeks after the contact lens is removed; then one month, three months and six months later. Additional visits may be scheduled if necessary.
Over much of this period you will be using eye drops prescribed by your surgeon. Various eye measurements are made at the follow-ups to check the healing process.
During the visual recovery period (one to three months) the vision may fluctuate, but from three months on the vision is usually stable. If you've had a large correction your eyes may take longer to settle.
After your eyes have settled you can have your remaining checkups with your optometrist or regular eye specialist. The cost of these visits is included in your surgery fee for one year after surgery.
Following ASA, vision will be quite fuzzy during the first week. However, most people have good functional vision even at the first day after surgery, with most patients seeing at least 6/12 (approximately half way down the eye chart). By 6 days postoperative, when the contact lens is removed, most patients are expected to see well enough to drive.
About 90% of patients will be seeing well enough by day 6 or 7 to return to normal activities. Full time computer workers may need a few extra days to recover. Your vision will improve rapidly in the first few weeks after surgery, but can take one to three months to fully stabilize.
PATIENTS WILL BE SEEING WELL ENOUGH BY DAY 6 OR 7 TO RE TURN TO NORMAL ACTIVITIES. YOUR VISION WILL IMPROVE RAPIDLY IN THE FIRST FEW WEEKS AFTER SURGERY.