Any elective surgery is an important and often difficult decision.
Conventional or custom
wavefront
Lasik,
All-Laser Lasik,
PRK,
LASEK,
Epi-Lasik,
P-IOL, and
RLE are all considered safe and effective by medical standards,
but does that mean you will really get what you seek?
Know What You Seek
If you think that being rid of glasses will change your personality,
your mother-in-law will now like you, and you will finally write
that Great Novel, you will probably be disappointed with your results
- even if the surgery is a technical success. If you know what you
really want from Lasik, then you can evaluate the probability
of achieving what you desire. Know your expectations and keep them
reasonable.
Convenience v. Risk
Lasik and other
refractive surgery procedures may offer the convenience of a
reduced need for corrective lenses, but to achieve that convenience
you will be required to accept some risk. You have absolutely no
guarantee that you will get the exact result you want, however a
comprehensive examination from a competent eye care physician can
help determine if you have an elevated risk for a poor outcome.
US National Results
The
USAEyes
CORE patient survey is our organization's primary tool for the
evaluation of surgeons who seek patient outcome certification. We
send the USAEyes CORE survey to a Lasik patients and compare
the responses to the doctor's peers. If the patient responses are
within the 90th percentile, the doctor's patient results are eligible
for certification by our organization. See
Lasik doctor certification
for details.
- 99% report quality of life as expected, better, or much
better
- 98% day vision as expected, better, or much better
- 98% no complications or issues are seldom problematic
- 98% would recommend surgery to family and friends.
- 97% would have surgery again, knowing what they know now
- 96% wear corrective lenses as often as expected, less, or
much less than
- expected
- 96% report postop vision without lenses as expected, better,
or much better
- than expected when compared to preop vision with lenses
- 96% report overall quality of vision as expected, better,
or much better than
- expected
- 91% no complications at any time
- 91% night vision as expected, better, or much better
- 7% complications seldom problematic
– 91% would have surgery again
- 2% complications frequent or always problematic
– 22% would have surgery again
The previous are detailed results of the USAEyes CORE
patient survey for patients who stated they had laser vision correction,
including all laser vision correction techniques (conventional or
wavefront custom Lasik, All-Laser Lasik, PRK, LASEK, Epi-Lasik),
stated they had no prior surgery, and stated they are at least six
months postop or greater.
For additional Lasik results details including charts of individual
adverse event reprots, please see
Lasik
Result Detail.
Not Just Lasik
It is important to meet your eye care doctor with an open mind.
Lasik is currently the most popular refractive surgery technique,
but that does not mean that it is best for everyone's situation.
It may be that an alternative is more appropriate. Review
Lasik
alternatives.
Unreasonable Expectations
It is unreasonable to expect your uncorrected vision after Lasik
will be better than your corrected vision now. It is possible that
it will be better after Lasik, but it is normally unreasonable to
expect that result. The goal is usually to have your new vision
without glasses the same as your old vision with glasses.
The probability of eliminating the need for glasses and contacts
entirely and forever is small. Although Lasik can reduce your
refractive error, possibly eliminating it, your eyes will continue
to change after surgery at the same rate they changed before refractive
surgery.
At some point, virtually all of us will need reading glasses
for
presbyopia. This may be reduced or delayed with
monovision or other techniques, but presbyopia is a natural
part of aging.
Eventually virtually everyone will develop
cataracts
and need to have them removed, again adding to the probability of
needing glasses.
Is Lasik Worth It?
Literally millions of people are happy with their vision after
refractive surgery and delighted with the reduced need for corrective
lenses. There are also thousands who are very unhappy. As a percentage,
refractive surgery recipients dissatisfied with their results is
a small minority, but should be considered.
Ultimately, the decision is yours and yours alone.
