After lasik, (and more frequently within the first day after lasik), the lasik flap can slip out of position and become displaced. While many technological advancements made this rare, it still happens from time to time. But it's not anything that should keep you up at night.

The greatest risk is in the first few hours after lasik

As the lasik flap heals up it becomes stronger over time. The lasik flap is the weakest in the first few hours after surgery (also the time where you will have normal discomfort after lasik). After the lasik flap is created and placed back in position, there is a small circular break in the epithelium separating the lasik flap from the rest of the cornea. This heals up quickly...in the first few hours. Once that break heals over, this makes the lasik flap a little bit stronger. But until then, if you rub your eye, you can/will cause the lasik flap to shift out of place. For this reason, pretty much all lasik providers send their patients home with shields or big sunglasses to protect the eyes.

How do you tell if it's happened?

When the lasik flap slips out of position, you will develop extra pain in the eye. The cornea is a very sensitive structure. When the lasik flap is sitting in the correct position, it protects the sensitive cornea below. If the lasik flap slips out of place, suddenly the sensitive parts of the cornea become exposed to the environment. This will be painful. It will be hard to open your eyes.

Let's say you accidentally got poked in the eye after lasik: if you don't have much pain, you don't have to worry much about dislodging the lasik flap (but still have your eye doctor take a look). If you do have pain, time to visit your eye doctor. Even then, it is still far more likely that the pain is coming from a scratch on the eye rather than a displaced lasik flap.

So you have a displaced lasik flap...

Fortunately it isn't very complicated or difficult to treat a displaced lasik flap. The lasik surgeon simply moves it back into position through another procedure (frequently called a re-float because a sterile water solution is used re-position the flap). Afterwards, things go back to normal like nothing ever happened.

In the end, a displaced lasik flap is really more of an issue of convenience (having to go through another procedure) rather than anything that threatens your vision. And as things heal up more and more from lasik, this risk dramatically decreases. The lasik flap develops a subtle amount of scarring at the edge, it gets quite hard to shift the lasik flap out of position. So ultimately you can stop worrying about your eyes and enjoy your vision!

Also check out Everything You Need To Know About Flap Dislocation After Lasik on EyeMountain.com

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