What are the best treatment options for high myopia with high astigmatism?

Doctor's Answer

Hi Kenneth

As the other doctors have pointed out, refractive surgeries such as LASIK and Implantable Collamer Lens (ICL) surgery are generally done for people who are above 21 years of age, and on a case by case basis for those between 18-21 years of age depending on stability of spectacle power.

Having said that, the 2 main treatment options for high myopia and high astigmatism would generally be LASIK and ICL surgery. What would be most suitable (or 'best') would depend on the particular patient's characteristics eg spectacle power, corneal thickness, size of eye (anterior chamber depth), etc.

In general, where the cornea is thick enough and the spectacle power low enough to allow an 'acceptable' treatment zone with LASIK, that would be my preferred choice. A treatment zone that is large enough, minimizes visual problems like halos and glare, and LASIK in general can be considered a 'simpler' and 'less invasive' procedure than ICL surgery.

However, there are patients where lasering an 'acceptably' sized treatment zone would result in a cornea that is dangerously thin (ie patients with very high spectacle power or thin corneas). In such cases, it would be preferable to have ICL surgery that preserves corneal integrity and still provides very good visual quality after surgery.

It is quite likely that someone with your spectacle degree would do better with ICL surgery than LASIK, but you can only find out for sure after undergoing tests such as a cyclorefraction (spectacle power check with pupil dilation), corneal topography and anterior chamber depth measurement.

Since you are still too young for surgery, try to observe good habits which may help to stabilize your shortsightedness. Most importantly, try to spend time outdoors while there is still sunlight 1-2 hours everyday, and hopefully this is as high as your spectacle power ever gets!

Ask any health question for free

I’m not so sure about a procedure...

Ask Icon Ask a Question

Join Human

Sign up now for a free Human account to get answers from specialists in Singapore.

Sign Up

Get The Pill

Be healthier with our Bite-sized health news straight in your inbox