Risks and Benefits of LASIK - What a Prospective LASIK Patient Should Know

                                                                                         

We want to discuss the benefits and the risks of LASIK eye surgery, also known as refractive surgery. This type of surgery helps people achieve better vision and thus allows them to avoid the use of daily corrective glasses. This type of surgery is relatively new, it has been in existence for the last 15 years, and is becoming a common place procedure, because the method is easy to pay for and a safe procedure to do. Still, it is surgery, so people just can’t choose to get the operation done, without careful consideration, and testing. LASIK surgery as any other surgery is still risky and these risks are worth serious consideration.

The procedure involves the use of lasers that correct and shape the cornea. This correcting of the cornea fixes visual problems which caused people to need glasses before the surgery. Depending on the kind of LASIK procedure you undergo, the recuperation period may be as little, as a day. But, because not every person’s visual problem is similar, but because people’s eyes are different, they may have different corneal problems, different cornea shapes, the LASIK process is not perfect for just every everyone. For instance, let’s say people use eye wear for every day visual needs, but they also need reading glasses, or bifocals, then when they choose to do LASIK surgery, they will usually still require those reading glasses, but they won’t need glasses for their every day seeing.

The Risks Involved
If a person has medical conditions, some LASIK surgeons will not perform surgery on you. If you have cardiac problems, diabetes or any other disease that may have a risk of getting worse or causing death when a person goes into the surgery, the eye doctor will likely not recommend the eye surgery. They won’t consider you to be a candidate either, if you have any severe eyesight problems like severe astigmatism. On that note, the risks of having something go wrong during LASIK surgery, is relatively small. Only three to five percent of patients experience any real side effects. Even though this is a really small percentage, it is still worth mentioning what those risks might be.

Under Correction or Over Correction
LASIK is a great eye sight corrector but it can only do so much, and the surgeon can only re-shape the cornea a certain amount. In general, this is enough for most patients, but in some people there are over or under corrections, and the patient will have to wear contact lenses or a weaker prescribed pair of glasses.

Flap Wrinkles
In the LASIK process, a flap is made so that the surgeon can remove corneal tissue or re-shape it. When the procedure is finished the flap is closed, but when the flap isn’t done correctly or it is too thick or thin, then it could have a problem adhering to the eye smoothly and may cause a wrinkle. This condition only occurs in 1 percent of all cases and can be fixed through another surgery or treatment.

Keratoconus
This is caused when the flap is cut too far in or when too much of the corneal tissue is removed, and causes distorted vision. In these cases the patient may be recommended to use rigid contact lenses.

Irregular Astigmatism
This happens when bumps appear from a wrinkled flap and can be diagnosed by double vision, or diplopia, and can be treated again by more laser surgery.

Halos and Starburst
This usually happens to a patient at night, and the patient experiences blurred images and circles that are in the center. This may cause the patient to be unable to drive at night. There is a natural healing that occurs usually within a two month period, but sometimes glasses or more surgery is needed to correct the problem.

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For more information on LASIK laser vision correction, cataracts and glaucoma, and other eye care options, contact LASIK surgeons on Long Island to learn more about your treatment and financing options.

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