Can you go blind from lasik eye surgery.
Can you go blind from lasik eye surgery.
The answer to this question in theory is yes.
In short no one has got off the operating table without being able to see.
Lasik surgery is considered to be a fairly low risk and highly successful elective surgery.
Legal blindness which is defined as visual acuity of 20 200 or less with glasses has occurred as a result of lasik far more often than lasik surgeons will ever admit.
Lasik surgery itself does not cause blindness but if you are in any doubt about the condition of your eyes following the procedure you must contact your surgeon or ophthalmologist immediately.
If you notice anything out of the ordinary or anything alarming after your lasik surgery contact an ophthalmologist immediately.
For good lasik candidates with good surgeons i can safely say that the risk of laser eye surgery can be viewed with the same level of anxiety as contacts.
To those who worry they could go blind from laser eye surgery.
Total blindness meaning no light perception from lasik is extremely rare but it has happened.
Yet side effects like glare and halos are common after lasik.
And like with any surgical procedure unexpected complications can occur.
Morris waxler phd the former fda official who was.
That said it s important to remember that lasik is surgery.
Lasik surgery itself does not cause blindness and most cases of lasik complications are avoidable by following aftercare procedures set forth by your surgeon.
Even if it turns out to be nothing better safe than sorry.
As specialist laser eye surgeon mr glenn carp explains in the short video below there is an extremely small opportunity of going blind as a result of laser eye surgery.
However while complications can occur blindness does not.
And rarely people have even lost vision or had long term pain or other problems.
The american refractive surgery council reports that there are no actual cases of blindness resulting directly from lasik surgery and the success rate is as high as 96 percent.
It would be extremely unusual for anyone to go blind from lasik especially if you follow your surgeon s instructions and attend all follow up visits as directed.