Two Common Laser Eye Surgery Risk Factors

Aside from the conditions that disqualify a person from being eligible for eye surgery (age, pregnancy, medication, etc.), there are also a couple of common laser eye surgery risk factors that can affect the effectiveness and safety of the procedure.

Large Pupils

It is important that the pre-op evaluation be done in a darkened room. It is very possible that if the patient is taking certain medicines, he or she will have a tendency towards large pupils in dim light. Younger patients are also more likely to have this particular laser surgery risk.

When a doctor does not make allowances for large pupils, the result may be debilitating visual irritants developing after laser surgery, such as halos, starbursts, ghost images, and glare. These visual symptoms may mean the inability to drive at night or during fog.

The reason for these symptoms is the irregularity between the part of the eye (exposed by the creation of a flap) that was treated with the laser and the part that was not.

Since it is not a good idea to apply laser treatment to the entire width of the pupil, a large pupil will expand or dilate even more in the dark so that light penetrates through flap edge into the pupil, thus causing these visual symptoms.

During daytime, these symptoms are not observed because even a large pupil when not dilated falls within the flap edge.

A competent, experienced doctor will perform pre-op eye exams in the dark, notice when a patient has unusually large pupils, make the necessary adjustments, and use the proper equipment (which is already available) to minimize laser eye surgery risk due to this condition.

Blepharitis

This laser surgery risk is characterized by an inflammation of the eyelids together with crusting of the eyelashes. It is likely that blepharitis will increase corneal inflammation or infection after laser eye surgery.

A significant number of people who complain about having dry eyes usually have clinical or sub-clinical blepharitis. Other symptoms of this condition include itchy eyes, redness, a feeling that there is a foreign object in the eye, and at times even pain.

A competent, experienced doctor will not just ignore the presence of this laser surgery risk. The doctor will instead try to remedy the situation, before surgery, by prescribing punctal plugs (which will block tear ducts to retain a film of tears) or artificial tears.

The same treatments may also be administered after laser surgery when blepharitis is still present.

This condition is so common among laser surgery patients since many opt for surgery mainly because of their intolerance for contact lenses. A large number of patients go through with the operation despite the presence of this laser surgery risk and blepharitis may grow considerably worse after surgery.

That is why it is important that a doctor evaluate a patient thoroughly. Severe dry eye syndrome should only affect the laser surgery patient for a limited time after the operation.