LASIK: Stories

You know all those people who have Lasik with immediate excellent vision? They did not have -9.00 and -9.25 vision. For you, Lasik will be a process, not a 20 Minute Miracle.


Lasik corrects your myopia (nearsighted) vision by removing tissue in the center of the cornea (clear front of the eye) and flattening the curvature to change the focus of the light entering the eye. Up to about 6.00 diopters of change the cornea is normally quite stable and few problems occur. Over about 6.00 diopters of correction and regression of effect is not uncommon along with occasional enhancement surgery.


Your eyes do not understand that you want your cornea reshaped so you can reduce your need for corrective lenses. The cornea will try to “fix” the change. This causes a regression of effect. Mild regression of correction could be reasonably expected for someone who started at 9.00 diopters myopic. With such a large correction required, the exact target may not be hit on the first attempt. You may require Lasik enhancement surgery to “fine tune” the result.


An advantage of Lasik enhancement surgery is that your doctor knows how your cornea reacts to the laser energy and you will require a much smaller correction, which will likely not regress. As of this writing you are not quite one month postop. Your doctor will probably advise you at around 2-3 months postop if enhancement surgery is recommended.


You also mentioned halos at night. At this moment your vision is not fully focused. You could probably have glasses made to fully correct your vision, but you would be attempting to correct a moving target. As the regression changes your cornea’s shape, new glasses would be needed every few weeks. If your vision limits your functionality, ask your doctor about glasses or contact lenses until regression ends and a decision is made about enhancement surgery.

A week ago.