Common Side Effects Of Having Cornea ReshapingYou may wonder if correcting your nearsightedness is as easy as everyone makes it sound with LASIK surgery. Everyone has been bragging about how you can be free from myopia and hyperopia with a simple outpatient surgery, but are there LASIK side effects. As with any surgery, there are risks that your doctor will discuss with you. Here are a few common side effects that most people will encounter at some point after surgery. Dry Eyes Almost all laser surgery patients will feel a sensation of having sand in the eye after having LASIK. Do not be worries as this usually resolves itself within one to three months. The doctor will most likely impress upon you that it is important to use eye drops very often after LASIK. This will help your eyes heal and lessen the sensation of the dry eyes. If you had dry eyes before the procedure, it is important that you discuss this with your surgeon. If using artificial tears did not help before surgery, your doctor may decide to block the drainage canals, which allow the tears to escape, with plugs. This will keep your natural tears from escaping so quickly which will lead to improved lubrication of the eye. Haze With PRK, LASEK and Epi LASIK, you may develop a haze. Haze is a cellular reaction that develops in the corneal stroma after surgery. Haze may be caused by material being secreted and deposited in the back of the corneal stroma. This will be serious in less than one percent. Patients who had PRK are little more likely to develop haze than those who had LASIK. Haze is not a serious side effect since even moderate haze will not affect your vision. Sunlight will bother haze following PRK so you should wear sunglasses with ultraviolet . The sun does not generally cause haze after having a LASIK procedure. Steroid drops and irrigating underneath the LASIK flap are the two most common methods used to resolve the haze without interfering with your vision. In extreme cases, however, the crispness and clarity can be lost. Haze can be removed and medicines are available with PRK to prevent it in the first place. Corneal Abrasion Since the surgery is involving cutting the cornea during the LASIK surgery, it is possible a small corneal abrasion can be developed. This only happens in a small number of LASIK surgeries because the surface cells of some eyes do not adhere very well. Unfortunately, the doctor can't always detect who may be more prone to developing a corneal abrasion. An abrasion is treated with a "bandage" contact lens that improves comfort and promotes healing. This lens is taken off in one to three days since the epithelium grows extremely quickly. Night Glare and Halos Many people who wear glasses or contact lenses see glare or halos at night. This is caused when the pupil dilates at night letting in peripheral light rays that are scattered before they reach the retina to be focused into an image. These glares and halos are sometimes more common after surgery. Some patients may see these halos at night during the first month after surgery, but it is uncommon for these laser surgery side effects to interfere with normal activities. After about three months, the symptoms improve and are usually completely gone by six months. If the problem is persistent there are eye drops that can be used at night to keep the pupil from dilating so much. Central Islands Another similar ghost is called a central island. This is caused by a small raised area that didn't receive as much laser energy. Most of the time, central islands disappear on their own after several months; however, some do require second treatment, called an enhancement procedure, in which the flap is lifted and a an excimer laser energy treats the raised area. Today, the new advancement of lasers uses a technology to provide a smoother laser application to practically eliminate the central islands. Most of the lasik side effects are mild and totally reversible. Make sure, however, to discuss all risks related to your particular procedure with your eye surgeon. |