Is LASIK eye surgery safe?

Safety:

Not everyone is a candidate for LASIK eye surgery. Moreover, some patients may be borderline candidates for LASIK eye surgery but be much better served by an alternative Laser or Non-Laser procedure (based on age, specific prescription and other factors). Dr. Ilan Cohen’s expertise with different technologies allows him to offer you the specific procedure that is the safest for you; whether it’s LASIK or an alternative procedure (i.e. Implantable Contact Lens, Clear lensectomy, Epi-LASIK etc.). Compare this to the commercial “LASIK ONLY” centers that offer LASIK as their only vision correction solution. In addition Dr. Cohen is a highly conservative surgeon and will tell you if it is safer for you to defer surgery or wait for a future technology.

These are the results of an FDA study on patients who had LASIK eye surgery(Wavefront technology):

100% of study participants could see well enough to legally drive a car (20/40 or better) without glasses or contact lenses.

98% of Study participants achieved uncorrected visual acuity of 20/20 or better

70% of those participants were 20/16 or better.

Most of the complications listed below are extremely unlikely and if you are particularly sensitive to explicit surgical explanations, I recommend that you don’t read on. However, if you are interested to know the detailed outlining of the most unlikely scenarios please proceed ahead. Also, keep in mind that most of these complications can still lead to optimal eventual outcomes if managed properly by an experienced surgeon. Commercial LASIK eye surgery centers are generally too busy with their assembly line philosophy to manage LASIK complications effectively and usually refer them out. We believe in the management of complications by avoiding them in the first place. We are also accepting referrals from other surgeons for their complications. If you had a LASIK surgery complication in another center we will be glad to help you in any way we can towards the optimal medical or surgical resolution of the problem. Most Flap Complications can happen whether the flap is made with a laser or a “blade”.

LASIK Eye Surgery Complications:

Flap related complications

• Free flap (irregular flap formation during surgery)
• Button-hole (Another kind of irregular flap formation during surgery)
• Flap Striea (flap is displaced)
• Sands of Sahara (inflammation under flap)
• Irregular aberrations (optical misalignment induced by the flap and resulting in decreased visual quality)
• Flap displacement (with or without trauma)
• Epithelial ingrowth (epithelial cells that normally populate the surface of the cornea grow underneath the flap.)
• Infection under the flap