It's true that once you have passed the age of 40, you may want to think about your other options besides LASIK. This is because, more likely than not, you would be affected by a mild degree of presbyopia and you may even have a mild degree of cataract.
Both of which, will potentially negate the benefits of LASIK since you may need reading glasses after or may even need cataract surgery sometime in the near future. Hence, after determining how much presbyopia or cataract you have, you may consider the other options available.
Having said that, at 46 years old, if you have no signs cataract at all and are open to having Monovision LASIK (where one eye is corrected for distance and the other eye is corrected for near), LASIK may still be an amenable option for you.
Discussing these options with your surgeon involves a detailed and thorough process where your surgeon will try to understand your daily activities, preferences, personality and expectations in order to give you the best advice. There is no straightforward answer for this, so it would be best to get a full consultation with an eye doctor that you are comfortable with.
Hope that helps.
Dr Claudine Pang
