Dr. Lance Kugler sat down with KETV’s Very Local Business Spotlight at Kugler Vision in Omaha, Nebraska, to answer some of the most common questions his practice hears about corrective eye surgery. One question comes up more than almost any other: is there a best age to get LASIK? Check out his answer and other insights from community-submitted questions below!
What is the best age to get LASIK or vision correction surgery?
There isn’t a single age that fits everyone. “We start as young as 18 to 20 years old, and then we go really all the way up through the rest of life,” Kugler said. “There’s solutions at every age.” A patient in their early 20s and a patient in their 60s can both walk into Kugler Vision as realistic candidates, just for different procedures suited to where their eyes are at that stage of life.
Eye prescriptions typically stabilize in the late teens to early twenties, which is why LASIK, PRK, and SMILE become options around that age. Later in life, as the eye’s natural lens changes, procedures like refractive lens exchange move into the picture instead. Age doesn’t rule someone out. It points toward which of the seven procedures Kugler Vision offers is worth evaluating first.
Which vision correction procedure is the most effective?
Kugler pushes back on the idea that one procedure beats the rest. “They are all effective, and they all are specific for the patient,” he said. He also described how patients typically arrive at Kugler Vision without needing to have already picked a procedure. “The whole point here is we don’t expect people to come in and choose one of these procedures. You come in for an evaluation. We’ll figure out what’s going to be best, and that’s what we’ll do.”
Is corrective eye surgery one-size-fits-all?
“Absolutely not,” Kugler said. “Every patient is customized to exactly what procedure they need.” That customization starts with an evaluation, where age, corneal thickness, prescription, and lifestyle all factor into which option fits a given patient in Omaha and the surrounding area.
What are the different types of corrective eye surgery in Omaha?
Kugler breaks the options into two broad categories. “There’s corneal procedures on the front part of the eye, typically done with a laser, and then there’s procedures where we put a lens on the inside of the eye, an intraocular procedure.” Corneal procedures reshape the eye’s surface to change how light focuses. Intraocular procedures place a lens inside the eye instead. Kugler Vision’s full procedure lineup spans both categories, which is part of why age alone doesn’t close any doors.
Corrective eye surgery isn’t tied to one decade of life or one default procedure. It’s a process that starts with an evaluation and ends with whichever option actually fits the eyes and age of the patient in front of the surgeon. Insurance typically doesn’t cover these procedures, but most patients weigh that against years of no longer paying for glasses and contacts. Kugler Vision offers a consultation to walk through those options for patients of any age in Omaha.
Call Kugler Vision at 402-558-2211 or visit KuglerVision.com to schedule a consultation.