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Lasik is no longer considered experimental and has been approved by the FDA as "safe" and "effective".
However, like all surgical procedures, it carries some risk for side effects and complications. Luckily, the
incidence of serious complications is extremely low at the Marietta Eye Clinic, less than 1%. The absolute best way
to avoid complications is to carefully and rigorously screen prospective patients beforehand and only perform LASIK
on those patients whom testing reveals to be "excellent" candidates. You can be assured that if we feel you don't fall
into this category, we will be honest with you and advise against having the procedure done.
An excellent candidate is one over the age of 20 with a stable eyeglass prescription, no history of previous corneal
disease or scarring and a cornea of normal thickness and shape (which will be measured and checked in the office with
computerized diagnostic instrumentation).
Most side effects are minor and generally not too bothersome. These include halos and dry eyes. Halos are points
that will glow like star bursts around objects at night. Screening out patients with large pupils and performing
"wave-front" lasik on all our patients has very dramatically reduced the incidence of halos lasting more than a few
days.
Dry eyes are a feeling of mild grittiness or irritation of the eyes. While LASIK patients will often have an increase
in dryness for the first few days to weeks after the procedure, for most people this is just a minor annoyance requiring
the use of artificial tear drops several times per day. However, for patients with pre-existing dry eyes, the symptoms
postoperatively can be quite uncomfortable. Therefore, all LASIK candidates are screened carefully during the preoperative
exam for dry eyes and if this condition is present, aggressively treated before LASIK is done to prevent this problem from
becoming significant.
The risk for serious complications that could lead to loss of vision is remote. Most LASIK complications can be treated
and usually resolve within several weeks to months after surgery. There are no known causes of blindness which can result
from a properly performed LASIK procedure. You can help prevent complications postoperatively by following instructions
and properly caring for your eyes, using your eye-drops as directed and protecting your eyes from trauma.
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