What are the Side Effects of Laser Eye Surgery?

Laser eye surgery has grown so advanced in recent years, and laser surgeons so experienced, that the side effects of laser eye surgery are becoming increasingly uncommon in the treatment of myopia and astigmatism.

Most laser surgery side effects nowadays have to do with visual symptoms rather than ocular inflammation, infection, or allergic reactions.

Other times, complications have to do with improper screening of the patient, especially when the use of contact lenses is involved.

For example, when the patient is a contact lens wearer, and does not follow instructions to allow a certain period of non-use before refractive measurements are taken, errors will occur.

Other times, the very quality that makes contact lens use unacceptable and laser eye surgery an alternative can lead to laser surgery side effects post-op, such as severe dry eye syndrome. In such cases, doctors prescribe plugs to preserve a film of tears or the use of artificial tears.

Visual Symptoms

Since laser surgery is not done on the full width of the pupil, some of the side effects of laser eye surgery are visual symptoms. Some patients have double vision when their pupil dilates, making things appear to have a ghost image.

Others cannot drive at night since bright lights cause debilitating halos and starbursts that make driving impossible. Such visual effects are limited to conditions of dim light or darkness.

These visual side effects of laser eye surgery can be avoided by doctors who perform extensive eye exams in darkened surroundings to accurately measure the full dilation of the pupil, and make adjustments for pupils that are larger than normal.

Correction Errors

Laser eye surgery ideally achieves 20/20 or 20/40 for patients. However, the visual quality that laser surgery gives should not be compared to conditions under corrective lens use.

Preexisting patient conditions may cause eyes to respond differently to laser surgery. On the other hand, over- or under-correction may be an error of technology. But much advancement has been made in this area, such as Wavefront technology where correction is done digitally with greater precision.

There are still cases, however, where patients need to wear corrective lenses. If the situation becomes unsatisfactory, many patients choose to repeat the procedure, especially within the first year after surgery as many of the best centers do not charge for re-treatments.

For the most part, however, laser surgery achieves vision that is satisfactory for the majority of patients. That is why it is increasingly popular.

Rare Side Effects

Inflammation and infection after laser eye surgery is very rare. Around one-tenth of 1% of all patients experience infection of the cornea, and for patients who opt for LASIK surgery, the number is even less. However, even if the cornea were to become infected it does not result in any long term medical condition.