Side effects most people have
Most people have some side effects after laser or lens surgery, and they usually ease within a few months: glare, halos and starbursts around lights at night, floaters, blurred or fluctuating sight, sore or gritty eyes that feel like dry eye, and red blotches on the white of the eye that fade within about a month.
Complications
- Under- or over-correction, so glasses or contact lenses are still needed for some things, or a top-up is done.
- Dry eye that lasts, which in a few people becomes severe.
- Night-vision problems that don't fade.
- With LASIK, flap problems; with surface treatment, haze.
- With lens surgery, retinal detachment, infection and a clouding behind the new lens.
- Rarely, permanent loss of some sight.
Results are less predictable for very large prescriptions, and long-term data on the newest lasers is still building.
How to lower the risk
- Go to an assessment that measures the thickness and shape of your cornea, your tear film and the back of the eye.
- Meet the surgeon who will operate before the day, and ask how often their common complications happen and what they do about them.
- Stop wearing contact lenses for as long as the clinic asks before the assessment, so the scans are accurate.
- Ask for the surgeon's name and check it on the Medical Council's register. By law a doctor can only practise independently as a specialist with specialist registration, and an eye surgeon should be on the Specialist Division of the register in ophthalmology.
- The Royal College of Ophthalmologists advises taking at least a week after the consultation with your surgeon before you decide, and checking that any deposit is refundable if you change your mind.
Warning signs after surgery
Ring the clinic straight away, whatever the hour, if you have severe pain, a discharge, sight that gets worse instead of better, a lot of redness, new floaters, flashes of light, or a shadow across your vision.
Who is more at risk
- Anyone under 18. Laser eye treatment is for adults, and most clinics want you a little older, once the prescription has settled.
- Anyone whose prescription changed in the last year. Wait until it has held steady.
- Pregnancy and breastfeeding, when hormones can change the prescription. Wait until things have settled.
- Keratoconus, or a cornea the scans show is too thin or irregular for laser.
- Uncontrolled diabetes, or an autoimmune condition or medicine that affects healing, without extra assessment first.
- Large pupils in dim light, which raise the chance of glare and halos.
- Eye conditions such as glaucoma, past herpes in the eye, uveitis or previous eye surgery, which need discussing first.
Questions people ask
Can laser eye surgery make you blind?
Blindness from laser eye surgery is extremely rare. Serious, permanent loss of some sight is rare, and choosing a specialist surgeon and an honest assessment lowers the risk further.
What is the most common problem after laser?
Dry-feeling eyes and glare around lights at night. Both usually improve over three to six months.
What happens if the result isn't right?
About 1 in 10 people need a top-up treatment. Ask before you book whether top-ups are included in the price and for how long.