Having strong vision helps health care providers care for you. Due to the nature of their work, wearing glasses or contacts are acceptable, but they aren’t the best-case-scenario. There are numerous complications that can arise from medical providers not having proper eyesight, but there are a handful that can come from the type of vision correction they wear. This is why we suggest iLASIK or PRK (depending on vision problem and severity).

Physical

It goes without saying a doctor or a nurse needs to have clear eyesight. Giving a patient a needle, for example, requires them to locate a vein underneath our skin and administer medicine through it. This process is precise and can be quite painful for the patient if done improperly. Having a person dig around for a vein with a needle causes bruising and can be traumatic to some.

Consider the surgeon who is on their feet for hours at a time, conducting intricate life-saving procedures. Sweat can often build on their face and cause glasses to slip and require constant re-adjustment. Some procedures require safety goggles to be worn over top of glasses, causing discomfort. For a surgeon, laser vision correction can enhance their work, both for the patient, and for themselves.

What about a patient that becomes violent? What if this patient removes your glasses from your face or breaks them? Glasses are difficult (in that you can’t go buy a pair in the middle of the night) and costly to replace. How do you get through the rest of your shift? The work is long, and losing a pair of glasses at the start of a 12-16 hour shift means you could potentially have blurry vision, headaches, or misdiagnose a patient in that time. The same goes for contacts.

Mental

Doctors are exceptional at thinking on their feet. It comes with their environment. Keeping their minds free of distractions plays a large role in the success of these decisions, and a dislodged contact or broken glasses can become quite frustrating over a 16-24 hour day. With laser vision correction, health care professionals can feel confident in their work without worrying about their lenses.

It’s also about treating yourself well. As someone who treats patients daily, healthcare professionals can sometimes forget about themselves. They also deserve the best possible treatment, such as laser vision correction.

Technical

Many doctors and nurses are required to spend a good portion of time recording and documenting interactions with patients. This is often done on computers, which, as we know from a previous update, can cause tired eyes. Additionally, most hospitals and doctors’ offices use fluorescent lighting–not ideal for reading patients’ charts. These can further cause problems for people living with existing eye conditions.

Cleanliness is an important part of maintaining the sterile environment found in most hospitals. Doctors experience things we can only imagine, such as bodily fluids, projectiles, and other unexpected parts of the human condition. Having to clean or wipe these elements from glasses increases the odds of breaking the sterile environment. How can you be sure you’ve cleaned them properly when you’re in a hurry to see patients?

Laser vision correction can potentially remove some of these problems for doctors and nurses. Not having glasses or contacts to worry about reduces the chances of any of these things happening, but also reduces stress. The worry is gone. You wake up, get ready, then go to work. No more worrying about which frames to wear, if your contacts need to be replaced or if you can get a few more days out of them. It just makes sense.

Are you a healthcare provider living with vision problems? Find out if you’re eligible for laser vision correction by booking your complimentary assessment today!