LASIK eye surgery is a form of laser eye surgery that has proven to be a very effective procedure, and following the procedure most patients are very happy with their vision. However, as with any procedure that involves surgery, there are some risks that are associated with laser eye surgery. In order to determine if LASIK eye surgery is right for you, you need to know about the potential complications and risks and consider these risks carefully prior to proceeding with the laser eye surgery.

You may be under or over corrected: Most patients are happy with their vision following one treatment, however, there are some cases where you may not achieve the best quality of vision following the first LASIK eye surgery and require a second surgery, known as an enhancement, in an effort to improve your vision. This enhancement can’t be performed for a number of months following your first surgery in order to give your eyes time to properly heal from the first surgery. There are some rare cases where you will not be able to have the enhancement surgery if your corneas are abnormally shaped or too thin following surgery.

In order to achieve your best vision, you may still need to wear contact lenses or glasses: This is extremely rare for the average person however, it is something that you should discuss with your laser eye surgeon. Also, if both of your eyes are corrected for good distance vision, you may still need glasses for close up work.

The results you achieve may not be permanent: While rare, some patients do experience a regression of the treatment a number of years following their LASIK eye surgery. This is more common in patients who have farsightedness. Those who need reading glasses are particularly prone to having changes in their vision following laser eye surgery. If regression does occur, it may be possible for you to have an additional surgery a number of years following your first LASIK eye surgery.

In low light situations, you may have visual aberrations: These aberrations that may occur with laser eye surgery that may and decrease your visual acuity include; Seeing halos around lights, shadows, glare, increased sensitivity to light, fluctuating vision, and double vision. These visual aberrations are extremely rare but they may be incapacitating for some time and may never go completely away.

Symptoms of dry eye may persist: Many people experience symptoms of dry eye immediately following laser eye surgery. There are cases that people develop a worsening of the symptoms of dry eye, including redness and burning, or even a decrease in vision following LASIK eye surgery. This condition may be permanent and you may need medication in order to improve your production of tears.

You may lose your vision: LASIK eye surgery may result in worsening of your vision that isn’t correctable without contact lenses or glasses. This may be the result of scarring, infection, equipment malfunction, or from flap related complications.