Lasic eye surgery?

Question

i was talking with my friend and she said it has a 50% chance of working. and the question i have is whats the other 50%?

like will you go blind or will it just not work?

anyone know???

Answer 1

It's more like 10% serious patient dissatisfaction, but about half of lasik patients DO complain of dry eye, which does for some patients remain a chronic and painful problem.

Want a 'worst case scenario' victim?

http://www.dryeyezone.com/talk/showthrea...

Read this, and other stories in that forum. I will quote some of her story, and others.

"I have extreme LASIK-induced dry eyes. I wear air-tight goggles in my house, in my car and outside. I avoid public places, and shy away from social gatherings. The moving air of shopping malls and grocery stores intensifies my constantly burning eyes. I am terribly sensitive to sunlight, even with tinted goggles. Dry eye pain and burning wake me in the middle of every single night. I can no longer read or watch TV for pleasure.

It is impossible to put into words the sadness LASIK has brought to me and my family. I implore anyone who might be considering LASIK or any elective surgery to research it carefully. A twenty-minute LASIK procedure, intended to improve my vision, completely altered the direction of my life. It has blinded some, ruined careers, is to blame for suicidal thoughts and actual cases of suicide.

My future is uncertain. I am terrified of the systemic and hormonal changes aging will bring. A severely dry cornea is in danger of corneal erosions, conjunctival thinning, and could eventually reduce my vision. I can only pray for a solution to this maddening condition. In the meantime, I will work to challenge the “LASIK” community who continues to downplay the risks of this surgery. I see the need to be progressive in vision correction, but LASIK is definitely not the answer."

another poster:

"I am depressed every waking minute, and look forward to going to bed. My precious husband and young children are paying the price, because I am no longer myself. I started an antidepressant today, but am scared the side effects will make me worse. I truely feel like I ruined my life. I knew there were risks - why did I take them??? How will I ever get over the feeling of guilt and and how can you ever be happy again when you're always in pain? We went to Disneyland last week - the "happiest place on earth", and I felt like I was the saddest person there. I could barely make it through the day with my dry eye pain."

And another

"I just hope if anyone reading this post is considering laser surgery that you consider all the options and ask your surgeon about the possible complications. Like you, I thought “These things don’t happen to me”. Well they can happen to anyone and chronic dry eyes can be debilitating and life changing condition."

Answer 2

the other 50% is reduced clarity in seeing things your cornea could somehow curl up a bit and that is what could happen, plus a couple of things more, just been a big writeup in a Sydney newspaper, about a week ago about your query, i personally would walk the other way, after reading that. i got too much too loose myself if i tried, "wet macular degeneration" next , carlicence renewal and i'm a walking person, for good

Answer 3

I'm not sure where your friend got her information but study after study has shown that the GREAT majority of patients are very happy with the results of LASIK.  Those that fall in the unhappy category usually do so because of complaints such as:

1)  chronic post op dryness

2)  vision not as clear as they would have expected

3)  problems with night time vision such as starbursting of lights.

But, again, the great majority of patients are very happy with the results.

Answer 4

For those who have had success stories after this procedure, they need to keep in mind the results almost never are permanent. People's prescription do tend to change over their lifetimes and they likely will need more work later on.