Quote:
Originally posted by XJ Man
The surgery has been around for a long time, i think like 30 years. I was amazed when the doc told be the method first came out.
Here's a good number for all of you who are scared:
0 out of 4,000,000 surgerys have resulted in blindness.
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The first clinical trial of LASIK in the US was in 1991, and the FDA approved its use in 1999. Prior to that, the most popular form of laser-assisted visual adjustment was PRK (photorefractive keratectomy) which was considerably more painful, and slower to heal as it essentially involved ablating (by means of the excimer laser) layers of corneal tissue to re-shape the surface.
No cases of blindless have been reported in north america as a result of a botched LASIK surgery. There have been complications including (major) flap detachement, final vision ending up worse than original vision, and infection. Most major complications have direct correlations to the capability of the operator of the lasik machine, so it's essential to be sure that the people performing your surgery are the most experienced possible.
Minor complications include over/undercorrection, 'starbursts' at night which obscure dim light vision, an increase in 'dry eye'. A good opthamologist should be able to identify risk factors that would tell you the possibility for some of these factors showing up.