Better Vision with Lasik Eye Surgery?

The 1.4 million Americans who chose to have Lasik vision correction surgery last year presumably have no doubts about achieving better vision with Lasik eye surgery.

The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has still not drawn final conclusions about how effective or how safe of enhancement surgery is.  The reason is that laser companies have not yet produced enough evidence to make such conclusions possible.

A paper presented in November 2006 at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Opthalmology did provide encouraging news.  

The paper was based on a follow-up study of people who had undergone lasik and PRK (photorefractive keratotomy)10 years earlier.

The study found that while there had been some regression, on average patients had maintained 20/25 vision.

A recent Irish study of patients who had had lasik surgery in 1998 and 1999 reported the same findings. There had been some regression, but surgeons were able to fix eye defects with a great deal of accuracy.   There was a high level of patient satisfaction even many years after the procedure.

The popularity of the lasik option for people who depend on eyeglasses or contacts therefore appears to be based on fact and the results can be dramatic.

Improved vision

Nearly 95 % of all patients report improved vision almost right after the procedure. Quite often eyesight improved to 20/40 eyesight or better.

Modern Lasik surgery was first used in America at the start of the nineties.  So the experience bank is now about 20 years, and equipment and techniques are  improving all the time.

Nonetheless, the FDA remains cautious. Its website says that “Long-term data is not available. Lasik is a relatively new technology. The first laser was approved for Lasik eye surgery in 1998. Therefore, the long-term safety and effectiveness of Lasik surgery is not known.”

Lasik surgeons agree, and warn that lasik is surgery, and all surgery has some risk.

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