LASIK Complications and Side Effects
Many people who wear glasses or use contact lenses to improve their impaired vision dream of having LASIK eye surgery to give them perfect vision and let them finally ditch the artificial sight aids.
But does this surgical procedure really give you a miraculously improved vision or does it have complications and potentially dangerous side effects attached to it? Let’s have a look at some commonly seen LASIK complications and side effects to find out.
Dry Eyes
More LASIK patients complain about this LASIK complication than any other. It is entirely normal that this should be the case, as the eye surgery involves the cutting of corneal nerves which are vital for your production of tears and for keeping your eyes moist and protected.
Problems which can be experienced after the laser treatment include a burning sensation and pain. Also, the eyelid can get slightly stuck to the eyeball due to a lack of moisture. Tests have shown that this is a side effect which does not improve over time and which cannot be properly treated.
Night Vision Problems
Another common LASIK complication, which leads to a number of complaint from patients, isdecreased night vision – a condition which in some cases can lead to a visual distortion such as starbursts and halos. These side-effects are fairly common and some research suggests that having a bigger pupil can make this condition more likely.
The Effect on Medical Tests
A patient who has undergone LASIK treatment and later on visits an eye surgeon to see about some other medical problem such as cataract formation can find that the results of the tests may be skewed due to the effect of the laser surgery treatment.
This means that glaucoma may not be properly diagnosed and cataract removal surgery may be a lot less effective than in normal cases. This puts your long term vision, and indeed overall heath, at serious risk as the doctor cannot carry out an effective course of treatment.
A Weakened Cornea
Part of this visual correction surgery involves cutting the corneal flap, and one of the LASIK complications which causes most worry to people having this treatment is that the flap remains weakened for the rest of your life. This is something which is not really noticeable in day to day life but can lead to serious corneal conditions in the future.
Other LASIK Complications can appear over time
There are a number of eye related complaints which can appear months or even years after the Lasik surgery is carried out. These include corneal flap dislocation, retinal detachment and inflammation. At the time of the procedure and immediately after it there will most probably be no indication of these potentially serious conditions.
Accurate Success and Failure Rates Are Unknown
The number of LASIK complications which patients experience each year is not known, as there is no official register, and the first couple of conditions which we mentioned in the articles – dry eyes and problems with night vision – are usually noted as symptoms rather than as true complications. This makes it very difficult to accurately inform potential patients as to the full extent of the risks which they are planning to expose themselves to.
Back to the Glasses Again?
This isn’t necessarily a LASIK complication, but the surgical procedure involved in a LASIK treatment will not remove the necessity to use glasses when you reach the age of 40. The visual improvement noted immediately after the surgery tends to diminish over time and you may very well find yourself reaching for your spectacles again even after an apparently successful treatment.
