Retinal Detachment

A retina that has detached from the support of the eye is a contraindication for Lasik.

Detachment of the retina occurs when the light sensitive membrane inside the eye separates from the support of the inner eye.

Higher Risk

All myopic individuals have a higher risk for retinal detachment, with our without refractive surgery. The extra length of the myopic eye creates pressures on the retina that pulls it away from the back of the eye. For this reason, very highly myopic individuals may not be appropriate for conventional or wavefront Lasik, Bladeless Lasik, or Epi-Lasik.

Lasik Alternatives

A person at risk for retinal detachment may be appropriate for other types of refractive surgery like PRK, or LASEK. In the Lasik, Bladeless Lasik, and Epi-Lasik processes, a microkeratome is affixed to the eye with a suction ring. This suction greatly increases the IOP of the eye for a brief time. The increased internal pressure may negatively affect a retinal detachment or someone predisposed to a retinal detachment.

Lens Based Refractive Surgery

The lens-based procedures RLE and P-IOL are significantly more invasive than other forms of refractive surgery and require special attention to patients who have a history of retinal detachment or are predisposed to retinal detachment.

Looking For Best Lasik Surgeon?

If you are ready to choose a doctor to be evaluated for conventional or custom wavefront Lasik, Bladeless Lasik, PRK, or any refractive surgery procedure, we recommend you consider a doctor who has been evaluated and certified by the USAEyes nonprofit organization. Locate a USAEyes Evaluated & Certified Lasik Doctor.

Personalized Answers

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Recent Lasik and Retinal Detachment Medical Journal Articles...

Related Articles

Rhegmatogenous retinal detachment after LASIK for myopia of up to -10 diopters: 10 years of follow-up.

Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2012 Jul;250(7):963-70

Authors: Arevalo JF, Lasave AF, Torres F, Suarez E

Abstract
BACKGROUND: The aim of this work was to characterize rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) in over 22,000 eyes after laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) for the correction of myopia ≤ -10.00 diopters (D), its characteristics, and its frequency at 10 years of follow-up.
METHODS: This is a retrospective single-center interventional non-comparative case series. A total of 22,296 myopic eyes that underwent surgical correction of myopia ≤ -10.00 D were included. LASIK for the correction of myopia was performed in all eyes. Patients were followed for 10 years after LASIK. The clinical charts of patients that developed rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) after LASIK were reviewed.
RESULTS: A total of 11,594 (52%) eyes came back for follow-up after LASIK at 10 years. Twenty-two eyes (19 patients) developed a RRD after LASIK at 10 years. Rhegmatogenous retinal detachments occurred between 1 month and 10 years (mean: 31.6 ± 39.3 months) after LASIK. Eyes that developed a RRD had from -1.50 to -9.75 D of myopia (mean: -4.81 ± 2.2 D) before LASIK. The frequency of RRD after LASIK determined in our study was 0.05% (11/22,296) at 1 year, 0.15% (18/11,371) at 5 years, and 0.19% (22/11,594) at 10 years.
CONCLUSIONS: Rhegmatogenous retinal detachment after LASIK for the correction of myopia ≤ -10.00 D is infrequent. The risk of RRD after LASIK is very low if you screen patients, and do prophylactic treatment as performed in this study. RRD, if managed promptly, will result in good vision. We recommend that patients scheduled for refractive surgery undergo a very thorough dilated indirect funduscopy with scleral depression and treatment of any retinal lesion predisposing to the development of a RRD before LASIK surgery should be performed.

PMID: 22218710 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]