Dry Eyes After Lasik and All-Laser Lasik

Dry Eyes after Lasik is a common condition during the immediate recovery period. If you have dry eyes before conventional or custom wavefront Lasik, All-Laser Lasik, PRK, LASEK, or Epi-Lasik, you may not be excluded as a candidate for refractive surgery, but it is a condition that you must report to your doctor. Pre-existing dry eyes needs to be evaluated, treated, and resolved before surgery.

This article is about why dry eyes occur and how to prepare before surgery. A related article is  Lasik dry eye treatment.

Tear Quantity, Tear Quality

Two popular methods to test for dry eyes is a Tear Break-Up Test (TBUT) to determine tear quality and a Schirmer test to determine tear quantity. Dry eye treatment will depend upon the cause and severity of the dry eyes. Dry eyes is a medical condition and treatment would normally be covered under by major medical insurance plans.

Lasik Induced Temporary Dry Eyes

It is common to experience dry eyes for a short period after Lasik, All-Laser Lasik and sometimes PRK and its cousins LASEK and Epi-Lasik. Virtually everyone who has Lasik or All-Laser Lasik will experience dry eyes, but the important issue is to what degree and for how long.

For the vast majority of refractive surgery recipients, the degree of dry eye symptoms is not significant enough to cause difficulties. Even those who do have some trouble most often find the dry eye symptoms resolve within the normal six-month healing period. For an unfortunate few patients, Lasik induced dry eyes is a long-term complication that, although manageable, may be very disruptive.

There are many techniques to reduce the probability of dry eyes being induced by surgery, but most are the responsibility of the doctor. Prevention of Lasik related dry eyes is primarily focused on proper patient selection and treatment of pre-existing dry eye prior to surgery.

Drowning In Artificial Tears

There are many techniques to treat dry eye. The most common are preservative-free artificial tears, lubricating gel, punctal plugs, Restasis, and flax seed oil supplements. The technique best suited depends upon the exact nature of the tear deficiency and underlying cause. There are many types of artificial tear eye drops for slightly different purposes.

Less Dry Eye With Surface Ablation

Although PRK, LASEK, and Epi-Lasik may induce dry eye symptoms, Lasik and All-Laser Lasik seem to be the more commonly associated with dry eyes. This is partly because the Lasik techniques are more disruptive to the corneal nerves than PRK and LASEK. For this reason, patients with preexisting dry eyes may find PRK, LASEK, or Epi-Lasik a better choice. Other techniques such as CK, Intacs, RLE, and P-IOLs only marginally disrupt the corneal nerves, but have their own limitations. Whatever the surgery of choice, the less the corneal nerves are disrupted, the faster the nerves recover and normal tear function returns.

Be sure to discuss any dry eye problems (before or after surgery) with your doctor.

If you are ready to choose a doctor to be evaluated for conventional or custom wavefront Lasik, All-Laser Lasik, PRK, LASEK, Epi-Lasik, NearVision CK, RLE, or any refractive surgery procedure, we highly recommend you consider a doctor who has been evaluated and certified by the USAEyes nonprofit organization. Locate a USAEyes Evaluated & Certified Lasik Laser Eye Surgery Doctor.

If this article did not fully answer your questions, use our free Ask Lasik Expert patient forum.

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Current Lasik Dry Eye Medical Journal News...

Dry eyes and corneal sensation after laser in situ keratomileusis with femtosecond laser flap creation Effect of hinge position, hinge angle, and flap thickness.

Related Articles

Dry eyes and corneal sensation after laser in situ keratomileusis with femtosecond laser flap creation Effect of hinge position, hinge angle, and flap thickness.

J Cataract Refract Surg. 2009 Dec;35(12):2092-8

Authors: Mian SI, Li AY, Dutta S, Musch DC, Shtein RM

PURPOSE: To determine whether corneal sensation and dry-eye signs and symptoms after myopic laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) surgery with a femtosecond laser are affected by varying hinge position, hinge angle, or flap thickness. SETTING: University-based academic practice, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. METHODS: This prospective randomized contralateral-eye study evaluated eyes after bilateral myopic LASIK with a femtosecond laser (IntraLase). Superior and temporal hinge positions, 45-degree and 90-degree hinge angles, and 100 mum and 130 mum corneal flap thicknesses were compared. Postoperative follow-up at 1 week and 1, 3, 6, and 12 months included central Cochet-Bonnet esthesiometry, the Ocular Surface Disease Index questionnaire, a Schirmer test with anesthesia, tear breakup time (TBUT), corneal fluorescein staining, and conjunctival lissamine green staining. RESULTS: The study evaluated 190 consecutive eyes (95 patients). Corneal sensation was reduced at all postoperative visits, with improvement over 12 months (P<.001). There was no difference in corneal sensation between the different hinge positions, angles, or flap thicknesses at any time point. The overall ocular surface disease index score was increased at 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months (P<.0001, P<.0001, and P = .046, respectively). The percentage of patients with a TBUT longer than 10 seconds was significantly lower at 1 week and 1 month (P<.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Dry-eye syndrome after myopic LASIK with a femtosecond laser was mild and improved after 3 months. Corneal flap hinge position, hinge angle, and thickness had no effect on corneal sensation or dry-eye syndrome.

PMID: 19969213 [PubMed - in process]