Fred, don't you DARE do LASIK on your dad. When his cataract surgery
happens as long as he has NOT had LASIK he will be able to be fitted with
an intraocular lens that should bring him to 20/20. It will not fix his
close
vision, he will need reading glasses for that.

Older people have problems with failing night vision. LASIK causes loss of
contrast sensitivity (inability to see well and distinguish things in dim
light) and
also causes visual aberrations at night called GASH. You don't want your dad
to be stuck with these problems.

Also, as we age, our eyes become drier. LASIK cuts a flap severing corneal
nerves... shown by the MAYO clinic to not recover fully after surgery. Your
dad may have constant discomfort after LASIK and not be able to stand to be
outside, especially in a breeze. What would THIS do to his tennis game?

YOUNG professional tennis players have lost their comptetive edge because
they had LASIK and can no longer see the ball very well.

Your dad may have had surgery to heal a retinal tear. If he had a retinal
tear
he may be susceptible to retinal detachment. This means all the extra
suctioning
on the eye by the suction ring to make the LASIK flap would endanger your
father's sensitive retina.

Studies by Emory show all LASIK eyes have permanent pathology. This means
they are all sick.

Best to take your dad to a 2nd opinion surgeon who may be encouraged to
do the cataract surgery a little sooner.

Your dad may have a refractive imbalance, properly fitted IOLs from cataract
surgery
can correct this. If he does not have a refractive imbalance, he should be
taken to
a specialist who focuses on binocular vision problems. LASIK can cause
problems
with double vision and depth perception. Again, not the surgery that would
fix anything
for your father.

He should be evaluated medically for the dizzy spells as well.

Please steer your father away from refractive surgery of the cornea. Of any
kind.

Sure, more than hope.  Cataract surgery should be done by a cataract
specialist (a surgeon who ONLY does cataract surgery), due to the
problems he has and does have, esp. with what sounds like a retinal
detachment.  He may want to go to a retina specialist first, and if
everything there is ok, you might even ask the retina doc for the best
cataract guy/gal in you area.

Forget lasik, as the other poster said, as there should be no need or
desire for it before or after cataract surgery.

I'd also recommend staying away from the multifocus/focusing IOLs.

w.stacy, o.d.

Tell dad that LASIK is not for him.    IOLs are for him.. and if he
wants to spend your inheritance, the Crystalens IOLS are better.

Once he has the cataracts removed and IOLs placed, he is likely to have
close to plano refraction and will not need LASIK.   As the cataracts
develop, his refractive error will change, having LASIK done now will
correct his current refraction but not the future changes.

Dizzy spells are seldom, if ever, due to the eye, they are more likely due
to inner ear problems or problems with the vestibular system in the brain.
Mini stroke or incipient stoke can also cause dizzy spells.   Eye muscle
problems can cause double vision, so can vestibular problems.  An onset of
double vision in an adult with no previous history and no eye muscle
problems means that stroke and other neurological causes need to be
investigated.  He should mention both these problems to his family doctor
for further workup and referral.

What do you mean by depth perception problems?   Is he having trouble
judging distances or is he having balance problems?   If one eye is very
blurry, it might affect distance judging but if it were that bad it would be
bad enough to justify cataract surgery.  If he is having balance problems
like tripping, falling, stumbling, trouble walking then those are definitely
not due to the eyes and he should see a neurologist.

Dr Judy