How to Tell if You’ll Suffer from Lasik Dry Eyes after Lasik Eye Surgery

Lasik Dry Eyes, also known as “chronic dry eye syndrome” can be one of the more unpleasant side-effects of Lasik eye surgery.

While the problem does not affect your vision, it can be painful and certainly makes for a lower quality of life.

Scientists at the Schepens Eye Research Institute in Boston have found a way to predict whether a Lasik candidate is more likely to suffer from dry eye syndrome. This information allows the surgeon to decide whether treatment is necessary before the operation, or even whether there should be surgery at all.

Dry eye affects about 10 million Americans, and is one of the most common problems treated by eye specialists. It is caused by a low level of tear production; in other words, the tear duct does not produce a tear film that will properly lubricate the eye.

The findings are sort of “wisdom in hindsight”.  Logically enough the study found that people who produced plentiful tears before the operation were less likely to suffer from Lasik dry eyes after surgery.

What is important, though, is that the team has been able to quantify the desirable level of tear production, and so help surgeons make a more accurate prediction.

The study team was led by Dr. Darlene Dartt, director of the Military Vision Research Program at Schepens.

Lasik surgery is of particular interest to the armed forces.  In recent years thousands of military personnel have chosen Lasik surgery in order to help them in combat. They can obviously identify objects and people more easily in the field, and also don’t have to worry about lost or damaged glasses.

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