If you are excited about the prospect of laser eye treatment, you should curb your enthusiasm for a moment and educate yourself about the risks of the surgery. While the number one cause of patient dissatisfaction with laser treatments was unrealistic expectations, complications also cause complaints. According to USAeyes, the leading laser treatment patient advocacy group, 3% of those who undergo treatment still have complications 6 months after surgery. A quick review of the major risks will help you make the most informed decision possible for yourself.
Loss of Vision
Complete loss of vision due to laser treatment is so rare that there are not statistics for this complication. However, there are reports of partial vision loss as a result of surgery. This is extremely rare, and the type of procedure impacts the risk level for loss of vision. Monovision correction, a procedure where one eye is set for nearsightedness correction and the other is set for farsightedness correction, has the highest risk potential for loss of uncorrected vision according to the US Food and Drug Administration. The US Food and Drug Administration also reports that out of 1 million surgeries, 3% report some loss of vision.
Aberrations
Aberrations in vision following laser treatment for eyes can mean many things. At the most extreme end, it means that you have double vision, stunning halos, massive starbursts and/or ghosting. These are severe visual impairments that will make it difficult for you to accomplish basic tasks and are also usually accompanied by splitting headaches. Additional surgery is usually needed to correct these aberrations.
The positive end of things might just be increased light sensitivity or some slight starbursting and/or glaring from lights at night, putting a damper on going out without sunglasses in the summer and night driving. These aberrations, while annoying, usually do not qualify for follow up surgery. Most people simply learn to live with these issues, which are reported by about 3.5% of patients according to the US Food and Drug Administration.
Dry Eye
If you usually suffer from dry eye, you may be disqualified from surgery as this is one of the most common side effects of laser eye treatments. The risk of developing severe dry eye as a result of the procedures varies from person to person, but most patients do complain of some level of dry eye in the first few months after treatment. This is caused by the change in the surface of your eye, as your body needs to adjust and re-sensitize itself to the new shape of your eye.
If you still have dry eye six months after eye surgery, talk with your doctor or surgeon. While most cases are treatable with over the counter drops, in some cases prescription rewetting drops may be needed. In truly severe cases, alterations to the tear ducts and eye drainage system can be made as a last resort.
Over-correction or Under-correction
The final major category of risk for laser treatments is that the level of correction may not be perfect on the first try. This can be caused by a number of factors, including completely natural factors based on the way your eye heals after surgery. Most doctors include the cost of follow up “touch ups” in the price of the surgery, although most correction errors are addressed with glasses or contacts.
Fewer than 10% of patients will ever need a touch up, even though patients are often seen with glasses after surgery. It can be frustrating to think that after you have paid for surgery you would still need vision correction, but the truth is that while laser surgery improves vision it does not always perfect vision. Additionally, reading glasses may represent a reasonable compromise over an additional laser eye treatment which may not benefit you.
Author: Mathew Dawson
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