Is Lasik Safe?

Many people who do internet searches of lasik start to see conflicting perceptions. Lasik has developed a certain notoriety to it which scares away good candidates. But how safe is lasik really?

I can’t deny that it can be nerve-wracking to have any procedure on the eyes. Especially when glasses or contact lenses work just fine to correct vision. But with the current lasik laser technology, it has become very rare for people to have issues with lasik.

Safety is often defined in different ways. The most common way to define safety in the ophthalmology world is by looking at loss of vision. This was looked at when lasik was approved as well. And today, there are still a few rare ways people can lose vision after lasik.

• The first one is infection. There are no procedures in life that exist without any risk of infection. Lasik is no exception. The good news is that infection after lasik is extremely rare (The risk of infection with contact lenses is actually higher!) Good lasik practices have developed techniques and cleaning standards to largely make this risk disappear. And just how antibiotics are used to treat an infection anywhere else in the body, they are also very effective with infections on the cornea. It's just important to catch and treat an infection early.
• A second way people can lose vision after lasik is through weakening of their cornea. This is called corneal ectasia. Cornea ectasia is similar to another condition of the eye called keratoconus. Essentially it is the eye becoming weaker over time and changing shape. Fortunately, this is also rare. In the past, there weren’t ways to cure ectasia, but this has changed. Corneal cross-linking has become mainstream which can stop this weakness before it causes the vision to decline.

Lasik has become one of the safest procedures around. There are some short-term side effects that people will notice such as dry eye or halos around lights, but it is very unusual for patients to actually lose vision with lasik. If lasik wasn't safe, I wouldn't have gotten it myself.

Also check out Is Lasik Safe? on EyeMountain.com

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