Corneal ectasia/Keratoconus: Corneal ectasia is a rare but serious complication that can occur after LASIK. It happens when the cornea becomes weaker and thinner, causing it to bulge and change shape. This can lead to blurry, double vision and other visual disturbances.
PISK is an inflammatory reaction caused by the instruments used during the procedure that can erode the corneal stroma. This condition can occur within days or sometimes even years after the surgery. Symptoms of PISK include severe eye pain, blurry vision, redness, and sensitivity to light.
We know that when patients return unhappy with their vision about 10 years after a LASIK procedure, the chief suspects are presbyopia and cataract. So the answer is: “It's almost always the lens, not the LASIK.”
If you develop blurry vision 2 years, 5 years, or 10 years after surgery, your eyes have likely changed with age. Visit your doctor for a comprehensive eye exam to rule out issues like glaucoma and cataracts. If your eyes are healthy, you may have age-related nearsightedness LASIK can't prevent or treat.
As we mentioned above, the laser makes permanent changes to the shape of the cornea. This cannot be reversed; however, sometimes vision can continue to change as a person ages. In this case, you may notice changes to your vision over the years even if you've undergone Lasik surgery.
LASIK permanently corrects the vision prescription that you have at the time of surgery. This means that it cannot wear off. However, any underlying conditions such as presbyopia that progress over time can cause changes to your vision, making the original LASIK procedure less effective.
LASIK outcomes are permanent in all but the most unusual cases. Some nearsightedness, farsightedness and or astigmatism in a limited number of instances can return over time. These changes are typically due to changes in the eye lens (the lens we do not treat) that can occur and it's called 'regression'.
Every surgeon has their take, but as a general rule of thumb, most LASIK surgeons would like for a patient to have at least one to two years of annual eye exams prior to scheduling LASIK surgery in order to establish whether their eyeglass prescription is stable.
Visual Irregularities: Some LASIK patients report seeing a number of visual irregularities for months or years after the surgery. These irregularities can include blurry vision, the appearance of ghosts or other artifacts, halos and starbursts around lights, and a significant loss of the ability to see details.
Many people believe that after LASIK surgery, they will finally have 20/20 vision. However, this isn't always the case. In fact, some patients may still need to wear glasses or contact lenses for tasks like reading small print or driving at night.
Keratoectasia, although quite uncommon, is a serious complication that has severe implications for the patient's vision (Figure 1).
You can get LASIK more than once. But undergoing more than three LASIK procedures can be harmful to your health and cause severe vision problems. Each time you undergo LASIK, the surgeon removes corneal tissue. If your corneas are too thin after the first procedure, you may not be able to have a second LASIK surgery.
Thankfully, there is no absolute LASIK eye surgery age limit. As long as you're in good general and ocular health and you are a candidate, there is no reason that an older individual can't undergo refractive surgery.
LASIK and other procedures also can sometimes cause irregular astigmatism, with accompanying blurred and/or distorted vision. Fortunately, for most people who have a less-than-perfect vision after refractive surgery, these problems are quite mild and usually tolerable.
Ghosting may be a result of induced astigmatism, decentered ablation, or large pupils. In patients with large pupils, light passes through both the treated and untreated areas of the cornea, resulting in a multi-focal cornea. The muti-focal cornea leads to multiple images.
While the effects of LASIK surgery are permanent, the benefits can decrease over time. For most patients, the results of this surgery will last a lifetime. About 10-12% of patients nationwide will need an enhancement surgery because of anatomical changes to the eye/eyes.
Occasionally, a surgeon doesn't remove enough corneal tissue. As a result, the patient's vision, even after a reasonable healing period, is not fully corrected. When this happens, it's usually on nearsighted patients. To fully finish correction, you may need another LASIK procedure within a year of the first.
Some of the prevalent issues include: Corneal Thickness: To effectively perform LASIK, the cornea needs to thick enough to hold its shape following surgery. Normal corneal thickness is approximately 540 microns (half of a millimeter). The average range of corneal thickness is between 495-600.
The Lasik blindness rate is so rare, that it is estimated to be 1 in 5 million. Corneal ectasia is a rare complication that can result in impaired vision. The treatment for cornea ectasia is a separate procedure called cross-linking.
How Safe is LASIK? All surgeries carry some risk of complications and side effects, but LASIK is generally considered a safe procedure with a low complication rate. In fact, LASIK is one of the safest elective surgical procedures available today, with a complication rate estimated to be less than 1%.
A second procedure is necessary if refractive errors were not corrected during LASIK. If a second procedure has been deemed necessary, another flap will be created. Most surgeons won't perform a second LASIK procedure unless it's 5-10 years after LASIK.
It can be frustrating to find out that, while your vision has improved, your eyes are dry and itchy. But these symptoms will usually go away pretty quickly. Many people say their dry eye has cleared up after a month9 and by six or 12 months after LASIK, most find that their symptoms have disappeared.