Going into any surgical procedure starry-eyed should only be done after an exhaustive screening process. This will involve consultation with your surgeon about the side effects of laser eye surgery and how they could effect you.
In this article, we'll examine what some of those side effects are and while the risks are extremely low, it's wise to at least know they exist.
Side Effects Of Laser Eye Surgery
There is always the possibility of delayed healing and infection. The percentages are extremely low; just 0.1% of patients could expect this complication. In the majority of cases, there are no long term complications only some discomfort experienced becuase of the longer healing delay.
One of the more common side effects of laser treatment is what's known as over or under correction. The resultant effect is a patient may need to continue wearing their contacts after surgery or even have further surgery. Again, the long term effects are considered negligible.
Corneal Haze
Corneal haze is not usually a major problem. It's incidence is extremely low in Lasik or Photorefractive Keratectomy procedures however, the risk is always there that abundant haze could hamper a person's vision. This is one of the things your surgeon will discuss with you yet there is no major effect on your overall vision. It's considered as part of the recovery process.
One of the more frustrating side effects of laser eye surgery is post surgical regression. Simply put, it means a person's eye or eyes can return to the state they were in prior to surgery.
This means the procedure could have been a waste of time and you'll need to discuss the ramifications with your surgery. Can they guarantee against this happening and will another surgical procedure be required. These are just some of the questions you should ask during the consultation.
The Halo
This can effect both Lasik or Photorefractive Keratectomy(PRK) patients and can be a serious problem. It's particularly noticeable in low light conditions and occurs when another faded image is noticeable as the pupil enlarges. This can be a real problem for people driving at night.
These are just some of the side effects of laser eye surgery and while they are not life threatening, they need to be considered when consulting with your surgeon.
What Are The Risks?
Let's face it, anyone who thinks that going into an operating theater is 100% totally risk free is kidding themselves. Yes, there have been isolated instances of serious injury. There is always risk associated with any kind of surgery but in this type of procedure it has proven to be minimal. In fact, the benefits of having the procedure performed compared to the risks is one reason many vision sufferers decide to go under the laser. Lets examine some of the side effects:
- Corneal infection or delayed healing has been reported in several cases of Photorefractive Keratectomy surgery but the the percentages are about 0.1-0.2% of all patients who have this procedure performed. It is even less with Lasik. Healing time in these instances is a lot slower but the good news is there are usually no long term effects.
- One of the most common side effects of laser eye surgery is what is termed as under and over correction. Simply put, it is sometimes difficult for a surgeon to predict how a patient will respond or react to treatment. In many cases, patients may be required to wear corrective lenses following the procedure. In the case of best corrected vision surgery, some patients may experience a decrease in contact lens associated best corrected vision which is usually attributed to the removal of irregular tissue.
- Following Photorefractive Keratectomy, the recovery process usually involves a corneal haze being present but this is not something the patient will notice. However, there have been instances where this haze has been overemphasized and resulted in a few problems normally restricting a patient in areas such as driving. Also, the incidence of regression should never be discounted. This means an eye can regress to it's former state following surgery, usually after several months.
- While the above side effects occur less during Lasik surgery the incidence of flap damage is an area of Lasik regarded as a side effect. Loss of flap tissue is the result in extreme cases however, this is rare and flap tissue can usually be replaced following treatment. Another side effect in this procedure is what is known as a distorted flap which can occur during the time of healing.
Under no circumstances is this article intended to sway you from going ahead with this procedure but merely to point out that there is always risk involved with any type of surgery. In other words, these risks should be discussed with your surgeon. You can then way up the benefits as opposed to the side effect of laser eye surgery and make an informed decision.
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