I had a comprehensive exam with Dr. Griffiths at NewView Eye Center. She explained technical medical procedures and terms in a way that laymen can understand. Convenient on-site optometrist.
George Weston
LASIK for Farsightedness (Hyperopia)
Your Pre-LASIK Evaluation
Before any recommendation is made, our team performs a comprehensive evaluation that goes well beyond a routine vision check. This detailed assessment protects your safety and helps us determine the most effective approach for your specific eyes.
During your pre-LASIK exam, we gather precise measurements and a complete picture of your eye health. These tests allow us to customize your treatment and confirm that your eyes are ready for surgery.
- Detailed refraction to confirm your exact prescription
- Corneal mapping to assess thickness, curvature, and surface shape
- Tear film evaluation to screen for dry eye
- Retinal and internal eye health assessment
- Discussion of your vision goals and daily lifestyle needs
Because LASIK removes a small amount of corneal tissue to reshape the eye, there must be enough tissue to work with safely. We use advanced imaging technology to map your cornea in precise detail, measuring its thickness and shape across its entire surface.
If your cornea is too thin or has an irregular contour, we may recommend an alternative procedure that is better suited to your anatomy. These measurements also guide how much tissue needs to be removed to correct your specific prescription.
Certain health and eye conditions can influence whether LASIK is the safest choice for you. Our LASIK Surgeons review your full medical and ocular history as part of every evaluation.
- Keratoconus or other progressive corneal diseases
- Severe or poorly controlled dry eye syndrome
- Active eye infections or ongoing inflammation
- Autoimmune disorders that may affect healing
- Cataracts or significantly elevated eye pressure
- Pregnancy or nursing, which can temporarily shift your prescription
Being open about your full health history helps us give you the safest, most accurate guidance possible.
Age is an important factor when planning LASIK for farsightedness. If you are over 40, you may have already noticed or will soon notice presbyopia, a natural age-related change that makes it harder to focus on close objects regardless of your underlying prescription.
LASIK corrects the refractive error of hyperopia but does not prevent or reverse presbyopia. Our team will discuss how presbyopia may interact with your vision goals and whether approaches such as monovision, which corrects one eye for distance and the other for near, might be worth considering.
The LASIK Procedure Step by Step
Understanding what happens on the day of your surgery can ease any nervousness and help you feel prepared. The procedure is brief, carefully planned, and performed with advanced technology designed for precision and comfort.
On the day of surgery, you will be asked to arrive without eye makeup, lotions, or perfume. Numbing drops are applied to your eyes so you remain comfortable throughout, and a mild sedative is available if you feel anxious. You will be awake but relaxed, and a gentle device keeps your eyelids open so you do not need to worry about blinking.
The first step of LASIK involves creating a thin, hinged flap in the outer layer of the cornea. At NewView Eye Center, we use a femtosecond laser to create this flap with a high degree of precision. You may feel a brief sensation of pressure during this step, but it should not be painful.
Once the flap is created, our LASIK Surgeon gently lifts it back to expose the underlying corneal tissue where the reshaping will take place.
With the flap lifted, the excimer laser delivers a series of precisely controlled ultraviolet light pulses to remove microscopic amounts of corneal tissue. For hyperopia, the outer zones of the cornea are treated more than the center, creating the steeper central curve needed to move the focal point onto the retina.
- The laser pattern is customized to your unique measurements
- Eye-tracking technology continuously monitors and adjusts for any small eye movements
- You may hear soft clicking sounds and notice a faint odor during treatment
- The actual laser time per eye is typically under one minute
After the reshaping is complete, the corneal flap is gently repositioned, where it adheres naturally without sutures.
From preparation through completion of both eyes, the entire process usually takes between 15 and 30 minutes. The laser treatment itself lasts less than a minute per eye. Many patients are surprised by how quickly it is over.
Recovery and Aftercare
Your recovery experience plays a direct role in the quality of your final results. Following your aftercare instructions carefully gives your eyes the best possible environment to heal well.
Immediately after LASIK, it is normal for your vision to appear hazy or blurry and for your eyes to feel gritty, watery, or mildly uncomfortable. These sensations generally improve within a few hours. Going home to rest with your eyes closed as much as possible is the best thing you can do on the day of surgery.
Avoid rubbing your eyes during this early healing period, as pressure on the corneal flap can displace it. Wearing the protective eyewear we provide while you sleep helps prevent accidental contact overnight.
Many people notice a meaningful improvement in their vision by the next morning, though some fluctuation in clarity is normal during the first few weeks. Glare, halos around lights, and mild dryness are common during early healing and tend to improve as your eyes stabilize.
- Most people return to work and light daily activities within a few days
- Vision generally stabilizes over a period of one to three months
- Night vision may be temporarily less sharp before improving
- Dry eye symptoms typically ease as the corneal surface heals
We prescribe antibiotic drops to prevent infection and anti-inflammatory drops to support healing. These are used on a specific schedule during the first one to two weeks after surgery. Preservative-free artificial tears are also recommended to keep your eyes comfortable and moist while healing progresses.
Taking your drops exactly as directed matters for your outcome. Setting phone reminders and washing your hands before each application helps keep things on track.
Protecting your eyes during recovery is just as important as the surgery itself. We provide specific guidelines tailored to your situation, but some general precautions apply for most patients.
- Avoid swimming, hot tubs, and open bodies of water for at least two weeks
- Skip eye makeup for the first week after surgery
- Hold off on contact sports and strenuous exercise for several days
- Avoid dusty or dirty environments when possible
- Do not rub or press on your eyes during the healing period
We schedule follow-up visits to monitor your healing at key intervals, typically within 24 to 48 hours after surgery, then at one week, one month, and three to six months. These appointments allow us to check your vision, examine the corneal flap, and make sure everything is healing on schedule.
Contact us right away if you develop severe pain, sudden vision loss, significant discharge, or worsening redness or light sensitivity. It is always the right call to reach out if something does not feel right during your recovery.
Other Vision Correction Options to Know About
LASIK is an excellent choice for many people with hyperopia, but it is not the only path to clearer vision. Knowing your options helps you make a confident, informed decision alongside our team.
Photorefractive keratectomy, or PRK, is a laser vision correction procedure that can treat hyperopia without creating a corneal flap. Instead, the thin outer layer of the cornea is gently removed before the excimer laser reshapes the tissue beneath it.
- PRK is often recommended when corneas are too thin for LASIK
- It eliminates any flap-related concerns entirely
- Recovery is longer, with vision improving over several days to weeks
- Long-term results are comparable to LASIK
Our practice also offers EpiLase surface ablation as an advanced surface treatment option for appropriate candidates.
Refractive lens exchange (RLE) involves removing the eye's natural lens and replacing it with a premium artificial intraocular lens (IOL) calculated to correct your farsightedness. The procedure is similar to cataract surgery and may be recommended when hyperopia is too high for laser treatment or when a patient is approaching the age at which cataract development becomes likely.
One significant advantage of lens exchange is that it can also address presbyopia when a multifocal or extended-depth-of-focus IOL is selected. Because the natural lens is removed, the eye cannot develop cataracts after RLE.
Glasses and contact lenses remain safe and effective choices for correcting farsightedness, and many patients who are not yet ready for surgery, or who prefer a non-surgical route, continue to rely on them. These options can be updated as your prescription changes and carry no surgical risk.
Our team is happy to help you weigh surgical versus non-surgical approaches based on your lifestyle, goals, and eye health.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are answers to some of the questions our patients ask most often about LASIK for farsightedness. If your question is not covered here, we encourage you to bring it up at your consultation.
LASIK corrects the structural refractive error of farsightedness but does not reverse the age-related focusing changes that cause presbyopia. However, if presbyopia is already a factor, our LASIK Surgeons can discuss customized strategies such as monovision, where one eye is set for distance and the other for near, which many patients over 40 find allows them to function comfortably with little or no dependence on reading glasses. Trialing monovision with contact lenses before surgery can help you decide whether it suits your lifestyle.
LASIK treats each eye individually according to its own prescription, so it is entirely possible to correct one farsighted eye while addressing a different prescription in the other. Some patients also have astigmatism combined with their hyperopia, and LASIK can correct both in the same treatment session using a customized pattern. Your pre-surgical measurements determine exactly what each eye needs.
LASIK does not cause your eyes to revert to their original hyperopic shape, and the vast majority of patients maintain stable, long-lasting results. That said, natural age-related changes such as presbyopia and eventual cataract development can affect your vision over the years, independent of your LASIK outcome. A small number of patients experience minor prescription drift over time and may benefit from an enhancement procedure, which is something our team can evaluate at any of your follow-up visits.
The overall safety profile of hyperopic LASIK is well established, though the reshaping pattern and treated zone differ from myopic, or nearsighted, LASIK. Results for low to moderate levels of farsightedness are very good, while treating very high prescriptions may carry a somewhat higher chance of needing an enhancement. A thorough pre-surgical evaluation is the key step in confirming that LASIK is both appropriate and low-risk for your specific degree of hyperopia.
Yes, LASIK can still be performed if you also rely on reading glasses, and the two conditions can be addressed together with a coordinated plan. Whether we correct both eyes for distance and accept that you may still need readers for close work, or whether we use a monovision approach, depends on your priorities and how your eyes respond during evaluation. This conversation is one of the most important parts of your pre-surgical consultation, so be sure to share your near vision concerns and everyday reading habits with our team.
If a meaningful prescription change occurs after LASIK, an enhancement, meaning a second laser treatment, may be an option depending on the amount of corneal tissue remaining. Minor fluctuations are not uncommon in the first few months after surgery as healing stabilizes, which is why we monitor your vision across several follow-up visits before drawing any conclusions. Long-term stability is the norm for most hyperopic LASIK patients, and our team continues to monitor your eye health at any future visits.
See Clearly with NewView Eye Center
NewView Eye Center has been helping patients throughout Northern Virginia achieve clearer, more comfortable vision since 1999, and our team brings that same commitment to every hyperopic LASIK evaluation we perform. We use advanced laser technology and a personalized approach to help determine whether LASIK or another vision correction option is the right fit for your eyes and your life. If you are ready to explore your options, we warmly invite you to schedule a comprehensive consultation with our team and take the first step toward seeing the world more clearly.
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