How effective is laser vision correction surgery?
Q: How effective is the laser operation on eyes for correcting vision? Is there any side effect?
A:The effectiveness of laser vision correction surgery depends upon your expectation from the procedure. The surgery reduces your dependence on glasses and contact lenses so that WITHOUT GLASSES you will be able to perform most of the activities without problems. However, after surgery there will always remain a very small prescription that if placed in front of your eye (as glasses or contact lens) will improve your vision. Remember that laser vision correction is not an alternative or replacement to glasses or contact lenses. Laser vision correction is a way to reduce your dependence on glasses. The biggest improvement is in the uncorrected vision so that you do not have to reach for your glasses to do 90% of things you do. If this is the outcome you want, then you will be satisfied with the surgery. If however you want to match the vision after surgery with what you see with your contact lenses or glasses then you may be disappointed. You have more that 95% chance of getting better than 6/12 vision and more than 60% chance of getting 6/6 vision. If you are more than 45 years of age and you go for full distance vision correction then you will require reading glasses to be able to read upclose. Laser vision correction is a surgical procedure and should be thought of as such. There are many potential problems - infection, severe inflammation, undercorrection, overcorrection, glare and halos, loss of best corrected vision, corneal flap complications (folds, striae, displacement, epithelial ingrowth) etc. Despite this long and incomplete list of potential problems, laser vision correction is a relatively safe surgery with millions of satisfied patients. Complications occur in about 2% to 4% of patients (so the rate of complications is low).
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