Premier Eye Center — LASIK and Non-Surgical Options

Premier Eye Center helps Prescott-area patients decide whether LASIK, an implantable lens, or a non-surgical option like corneal refractive therapy (CRT) is the right fit — and coordinates the entire process from our office at 980 Willow Creek Rd #202. Choosing a procedure to correct myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness), or astigmatism is a major decision, and it’s not one you should make from a brochure. Our job is to give you objective facts and honest counseling so you can weigh your options with clear information.

Because our doctors don’t perform refractive surgery themselves, the conversation starts with what your eyes actually need. Sometimes that’s LASIK. Sometimes it’s an implantable lens. And sometimes the best answer involves no surgery at all.

How Vision Correction Works at Premier Eye Center

It starts with a thorough evaluation of your eyes — your prescription and how stable it’s been, your corneal shape and thickness, your tear film, and your overall eye health. Those findings determine which options are realistically on the table for you.

If a surgical procedure makes sense, we coordinate your care with a refractive surgeon and handle your pre-operative workup and post-operative follow-up visits right here in Prescott. That means the routine appointments before and after your procedure happen close to home instead of requiring repeated trips out of the area. If a non-surgical route fits better, CRT lens fitting happens entirely in our office.

LASIK

LASIK (Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis) is an outpatient procedure suitable for many patients with low, moderate, and some higher prescriptions. It uses a cool beam of light from an excimer laser to gently reshape the front surface of the eye — the cornea — so light focuses correctly on the retina.

LASIK is FDA-approved for adults 18 and older, and most surgeons want to see a prescription that has held stable for at least a year, often two, before operating. Beyond age and stability, candidacy comes down to the health and structure of your eyes: adequate corneal thickness, a regular corneal shape, and a healthy ocular surface. Certain conditions take laser surgery off the table — keratoconus is a common example, since it involves a cornea that is already thinning.

This is exactly why the evaluation matters. A careful workup tells you up front whether LASIK is a strong option for your eyes, a marginal one, or a poor one — before you’ve committed to anything.

ICL — Implantable Collamer Lens

An Implantable Collamer Lens (ICL) is suited to patients with higher prescriptions, including many who have been told they weren’t candidates for LASIK. Instead of reshaping the cornea, a tiny corrective lens is placed inside the eye, in front of the natural crystalline lens. The procedure is similar to cataract surgery, except in cataract surgery the natural lens is removed and an intraocular lens (IOL) takes its place — with an ICL, your natural lens stays put.

The current EVO ICL received FDA approval in 2022 for adults with moderate to high nearsightedness, including prescriptions well beyond what laser procedures can treat. Because no corneal tissue is removed, it can also be an option for patients whose corneas are too thin for LASIK. And unlike laser correction, the lens is removable by a surgeon if that’s ever needed.

As with LASIK, we handle the candidacy evaluation, coordinate with the surgeon, and manage your follow-up care locally.

CRT — Corneal Refractive Therapy

CRT is the non-surgical option in the lineup, and it’s one we fit right here in our Prescott office. It’s a form of orthokeratology: specially designed rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lenses gently reshape your cornea while you sleep. You take the lenses out in the morning and see clearly through the day — no glasses, no daytime contacts.

A few things worth knowing about CRT:

  • It’s FDA-approved for overnight wear. CRT lenses have held FDA approval for overnight orthokeratology since 2002, for the temporary reduction of nearsightedness — generally up to about -6.00 diopters, along with mild astigmatism.
  • It’s completely reversible. Stop wearing the lenses, and your cornea gradually returns to its natural shape. Nothing is permanent, which is either a drawback or the entire point, depending on what you’re looking for.
  • >There’s no age barrier. No laser is FDA-approved for patients under 18, but CRT doesn’t have that limitation. It’s frequently used with children and teens, and it’s commonly part of a myopia management plan for kids whose nearsightedness is progressing.
  • It’s a genuine alternative for the surgery-averse. Plenty of people want to ditch daytime glasses and contacts but have no interest in a procedure. CRT gets many of them there.

One Prescott-Specific Consideration: Dry Eye

Prescott’s high elevation and dry climate mean dry eye is something we see a lot of, and it matters more than most people expect when weighing vision correction. A healthy tear film is part of the candidacy picture for LASIK — dry eyes are among the side effects the FDA lists for the procedure, and surgery on an already-dry eye tends to make the recovery rougher. Dry eye also affects comfort with overnight CRT lenses.

The good news: dry eye is treatable, and treating it first often turns a marginal candidate into a good one. Our office offers advanced dry eye treatment, so if your evaluation turns up a tear film problem, we can address it here before you move forward with anything else.