If you are contemplating LASIK eye surgery, you are not alone. This is becoming one of the most popular elective surgeries. This surgery can help to eliminate your need for glasses or contact lenses. Although it is a relatively safe surgery and most people do not have problems after ward, it is important to understand that there are still risks involved.
LASIK eye surgery uses lasers to correct vision by reshaping the cornea; it is a relatively non-evasive surgery. Still there are things that can happen whenever you are messing with something as sensitive as your eyesight. You will need to decide if it is worth the risk to you to be free of eyewear.
Some of the risks that can occur include losing eyesight, in whole or in part, the development of severe dry eye syndrome as well as the return of eye problems as you age. Some of the risks can be alleviated by carefully choosing both your surgeon and the clinic where the surgery is to take place, but the best way to is to do your research and to understand the risks completely before they happen.
A small percentage of patients lose some or all of their eyesight as a result of having the LASIK eye surgery performed. The lose can include losing lines of vision when reading a vision chart that cannot be fixed by contact lenses or glasses. Of course, if all vision is lost, this cannot be corrected by eyewear either.
Other vision related issues that some patients report developing are problems with seeing halos, double vision and an increase in glare. All of these issues will affect certain situations where low contrast in colors and light are affected, such as night driving or foggy conditions.
If the surgery is done to solve an issue of farsightedness, the symptoms could reoccur over time as the eyes naturally age. Other patients could also see a change in their vision as they age; there is not a long-term data to track the successfulness of this new technology over time.
It is important to note that patients who have dry eye syndrome will notice the condition being worse for about a month after having LASIK eye surgery performed. After about a month of healing, the condition will get better, though normally not to the postoperative norm.
Patients who do not have dry eye syndrome before the surgery will also notice an issue, they will notice symptoms such as itching, dryness and loss of tears. The symptoms for these patients will lessen over the month of healing also, but may never go away completely.
It is important that you fully understand the complications that can arise from LASIK eye surgery. While the surgery is relatively uncomplicated, it can still have dire consequences. Be sure to talk with your surgeon before agreeing to proceed with the operation. |
