What are the risks and possible side effects of laser eye surgery?
First of all: the risk to have a worse vision than before is very low! As with any surgery, the potential for eye surgery side effects does exist. The rate of complications can be held under 1% if the surgical candidates are selected carefully and the surgeon is experienced enough. Serious complications are very rare in modern eye surgery procedures. In some cases corrections may be needed to reach the desired vision, meaning that the procedure must be repeated. This is usually needed if the vision has been under- or overcorrected during the surgery and the result is less than optimal. It’s very rare for LASIK to cause permanent, significant vision loss such that eyesight with contact lenses and eyeglasses is actually worse than it was before surgery. Requisites to a successful outcome are to choose the right method, to choose an experienced surgeon and to carefully follow the instructions of the surgeon before, under and after the operation.
