Can laser for floaters be done after LASIK?
Yes, but with some technical difficulty. The difficulty with post-laser refractive surgery eyes is that there is a central area of the cornea (approx 8-9mm) that has been reshaped, and then a surrounding “transition zone” of about 1mm, and then the peripheral, untouched cornea. When you shine the ophthalmoscope into the eye and see the “cat’s eye” light reflex, there appears to be a lens within a lens or a “button” of different optical quality. Even if the pupil is a larger 10-11 mm, the effective working diameter is only that 8mm. When treating with the laser, every millimeter of pupil dilation matters. LASIK essentially restricts the coherent, organized focus of the laser. The bottom line is that the efficiency of the laser can drop way down. Sometimes as little as 1 in 5 shots may be actually affecting the floater. Other times in LASIK patients, the laser is fully efficient and you’d never know the difference. We can’t always tell beforehand. The difficulty is likely related to the
