Taking Contacts out 24 Hours Before Lasik Surgery, Too Soon?

I totally agree with your concern of being told that you only need to leave your contact lenses out for 24 hours prior to LASIK. And you are correct about the reason as well. The shape of the eye can change with removing contact lenses and this period of waiting is needed to allow the eyes to stabilize. In general most doctors wait at least a week for soft lenses, and two weeks for toric soft lenses prior to performing surgery. It is sometimes also helpful to have a second exam to be... more

The situation as you describe it is worrisome. I have no problem with a patient leaving their contacts out just 24 hours before their evaluation for LASIK. This exam is mainly to make sure the patient is a candidate and to educate them on the procedure. To be told it is ok to leave your contacts out just 48 hours before the LASIK procedure is not right and you maybe are being rushed here. I recommend at least 10 days out of regular soft lenses, 2 weeks out of toric lenses and... more

Contacts can distort the shape of the cornea, and the measurements used to program the laser for LASIK. It is generally recommended that soft contacts should be out at least a week, and with newer wavefront treatments which are higher resolution, even two weeks. Rigid gas permeable (RGP) and hard contacts should be out at least 3 weeks, and some practitioners advise one month for every 10 years of wear. Contacts can not only change the preoperative measurements and hence the... more