Hello. I’m Dr. Jinhag Baik, an ophthalmologist and head director of nuneHIM Eye Center on Siheung-daero in Guro-gu, Seoul.
Korea’s national college entrance exam falls on November 19 this year, and after it many students and parents start asking, “Can I get LASEK now that exams are over?” The same question comes up for international families in Seoul whose teenagers are about to leave for university.
The short answer: the right time for laser vision correction isn’t set by your age or your calendar. It depends on two things. Has your prescription stopped changing? And is your cornea healthy enough to be reshaped?
What the FDA says about age and stability
The U.S. FDA’s patient guidance lists situations where you are probably not a good candidate for refractive surgery. Two matter most for young people:
- Under 18: no lasers are currently approved for LASIK on anyone under 18.
- A prescription change in the past year: the FDA calls this refractive instability, and notes it is more likely in people in their early 20s or younger, during pregnancy or breastfeeding, with conditions such as diabetes that cause hormonal fluctuation, or on medications that can make vision fluctuate.
That second point doesn’t ban surgery at 19 or 20. It means a young patient’s stability needs to be checked with more care. These are U.S. FDA criteria; in Korea, the decision is made by your ophthalmologist based on your exam.
When does myopia usually stop progressing?
The best long-term data come from the COMET study (Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 2013). It followed nearsighted children, enrolled at ages 6 to 11, for 11 years, and modeled when each child’s myopia leveled off (within 0.50 diopters of its final value). Of 426 children analyzed:
| By age | Share with stable myopia |
|---|---|
| 15 | 48% |
| 18 | 77% |
| 21 | 90% |
| 24 | 96% |
The mean age at stabilization was 15.6 years. Put the other way, about one in four was still changing at 18. A caveat: COMET was a U.S. cohort with only 33 Asian participants (76% of them stable by 18), so the numbers shouldn’t be read as exact for Korean students.
Data from young Asian adults point the same way. A 2022 study of 526 first-year medical students in Tianjin, China (mean age 18.3) found the average prescription moved by about -0.38 D over two years, and the share with high myopia rose from 20.9% to 28.3%. That is an average from one demanding university program, not a prediction for any single person, but it shows that myopia often keeps moving at 18 to 20.
How we check whether your myopia has stopped
One exam can’t tell you if your eyes are stable; you need a comparison over time. The most practical yardstick is the FDA’s: has your prescription changed in the last year? It helps a lot to bring:
- Old glasses or prescriptions from the past one to two years (we can measure older lenses)
- Any record of contact lens power changes
Young eyes also focus strongly, which can make myopia read higher than it really is, so a refraction after dilating (cycloplegic) drops may be needed.
Why corneal screening matters more than age
Laser vision correction thins the cornea. If the cornea is already weak or irregular, it can bulge forward after surgery, a rare but serious complication called corneal ectasia.
A 2008 study in Ophthalmology (Randleman et al.) compared 171 ectasia cases with uneventful LASIK controls. Abnormal corneal topography before surgery was present in 35.7% of ectasia cases and 0% of controls, and it was the strongest factor separating the two groups, followed by residual corneal thickness, age, and preoperative corneal thickness. Ectasia patients were also younger (34.4 vs 40.0 years), more myopic, and had thinner corneas. Most cases followed LASIK (95.9%), but some followed PRK (4.1%), so surface surgery is not risk-free. This design shows risk factors, not how often ectasia happens.
Age matters for the cornea itself, too. A 2019 meta-analysis of 11,529 eyes found untreated keratoconus progressed faster in younger patients. That is why careful topography and tomography to rule out early keratoconus are so important for teenagers and people in their early 20s.
LASIK or LASEK: is one better for students?
Not clearly. A 2013 Cochrane review of 13 randomized trials (1,135 people) found LASIK gave faster visual recovery and less pain than PRK, but results at one year were similar, and the evidence was mostly low quality. A 2017 Cochrane review comparing LASEK and LASIK found the difference in one-year vision uncertain. The choice depends on corneal thickness and shape, your prescription, and lifestyle. For example, the FDA lists regular participation in contact sports such as boxing, wrestling, or martial arts as a reason refractive surgery may not suit you, which is worth raising when choosing between a flap procedure (LASIK) and surface ablation (LASEK/PRK).
What symptoms can appear afterwards?
In the FDA-involved PROWL studies (JAMA Ophthalmology, 2017; 262 Navy personnel and 312 civilians who had LASIK), 43% and 46% reported a new visual symptom such as glare, halos, starbursts, or double images at three months. About 28% of those with normal dry-eye scores before surgery had at least mild dry-eye symptoms at three months. Overall, though, the share of people with visual and dry-eye symptoms went down after surgery, most were satisfied, and dissatisfaction with vision was 1% to 4%. These are three-month LASIK survey results, not a measure of permanent problems, but they are why we counsel carefully before surgery.
When it may be wiser to wait
| Situation | Why |
|---|---|
| Prescription changed in the past year | Myopia may return as the eye keeps growing |
| Abnormal topography or suspected keratoconus | Strongest known risk factor for ectasia |
| Thin cornea or very high myopia | May not leave enough tissue after treatment |
| Pregnancy or breastfeeding | Refraction can fluctuate |
| Large pupils in dim light | Linked with glare and halos |
| Significant dry eye | Symptoms can worsen after surgery |
| Career or military rules | Some jobs restrict certain procedures; check first |
Before your first consultation
Contact lenses temporarily change the shape of your cornea. FDA guidance is to stop wearing soft lenses for 2 weeks, toric soft or rigid gas permeable lenses for at least 3 weeks, and hard lenses for at least 4 weeks before the first evaluation. If you wear ortho-k (overnight) lenses, ask us about timing separately.
At nuneHIM Eye Center, a refractive surgery workup covers refraction (with cycloplegic refraction when needed), corneal topography and tomography, corneal thickness, pupil size in dim light, tear film and ocular surface checks, and eye pressure and retina exams.
If you work near Guro Digital Complex or Gasan Digital Complex, long screen hours can affect dry eye before and after surgery, so plan your return to work and screen breaks ahead of time.
Bottom line
Finishing exams or turning 18 is a good time to get checked, not automatically the time to have surgery. Book the exam first, and set a surgery date only after a stable prescription and a normal corneal scan.
nuneHIM Eye Center | Dr. Jinhag Baik, Ophthalmologist 5F Kwanghee Bldg, 551 Siheung-daero, Guro-gu, Seoul (near Guro Digital Complex and Gasan Digital Complex stations) http://www.nunehim.com | Naver booking: https://booking.naver.com/booking/13/bizes/923695
This article is for general medical information as of November 2026. It is not a recommendation for any specific procedure, and suitability for surgery depends on an individual examination by an ophthalmologist.
References
- U.S. FDA. When is LASIK not for me? https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/lasik/when-lasik-not-me
- U.S. FDA. What should I expect before, during, and after surgery? https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/lasik/what-should-i-expect-during-and-after-surgery
- COMET Group. Myopia stabilization and associated factors among participants in COMET. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2013;54:7871–84. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24159085/
- Bai X, et al. Ocular biometric and refractive development in first-year university students. BMC Ophthalmol. 2022;22:220. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35568890/
- Randleman JB, et al. Risk assessment for ectasia after corneal refractive surgery. Ophthalmology. 2008;115:37–50. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17624434/
- Ferdi AC, et al. Keratoconus natural progression: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 11 529 eyes. Ophthalmology. 2019;126:935–45. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30858022/
- Shortt AJ, et al. LASIK versus PRK for myopia. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013;CD005135. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23440799/
- Kuryan J, et al. LASEK versus LASIK for correcting myopia. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2017;CD011080. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28197998/
- Eydelman M, et al. Symptoms and satisfaction of patients in the PROWL studies. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2017;135:13–22. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27893066/
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