1.5 years post op Lasik, my night vision is still bad and I see star bursting/ halos. Will I still see improvements?

Question

I'm a 24 year old male who had custom wavefront lasik 1.5 years ago with prescription of 4.75 in both eyes (nearsighted). My night vision is still bad, I see tons of starbursting/halos. My dr gave me drops called Alphagan p to help shrink my pupils at night which helps. But recently I've noticed difficulty in focusing, especially on closer items (phone/book). Plus left eye has many floaters & feels hazy. Will I still see improvement or after 1.5 years is this what I'm going to have to deal with?

Martin L. Fox, MD · Answer

At a 1 1/2 years out these symptoms are not likely to change. Glare symptoms are created by micro irregularities in the bed of the cornea created at the time of the original lasik. Custom treaents have resulted in much less of this problem, however, approximately 1% of patients with higher original prescriptions can still experience these symptoms. You are however, a candidate for Lasik Revision surgery in which custom laser application can be calculated to reduce the corneal light path irregularities responsible for these annoying symptoms.

Mazin Yaldo, MD · Answer

Generally, 18 months post-LASIK your eyes
will be fully healed and any glare/halos/starburst you see will not further
diminish on its own.  Note that
some patients see things like this even before surgery; I am assuming this is a
new problem since your LASIK. 
Wavefront is the most advanced type of LASIK and has the lowest chance
of creating such night side effects. 
Still, as you can relate, it is possible to occur.  Alphagan-P drops are helpful but are
not a permanent solution. 
Sometimes patients can have additional wavefront LASIK treatment to
improve the quality of their night vision.  You should discuss this option with your surgeon.

At your age, it is not normal to have
problems focusing up close. 
Perhaps you are slightly overcorrected (farsighted) now?  Your surgeon can easily measure to see
if this is the case.  If so,
additional treatment could help. 
When people hit their 40’s they develop presbyopia, an age related
change in the lens inside the eye which makes reading difficult.  You are too young to have presbyopia.

Floaters
are not known to be caused by LASIK. 
They are more common in nearsighted people, and this is likely the
reason you have them.  They tend to
not go away, though with time people tend to notice them less.

1.5 years post op Lasik, my night vision is still bad and I see star bursting/ halos. Will I still see improvements?

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1.5 years post op Lasik, my night vision is still bad and I see star bursting/ halos. Will I still see improvements?

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Everything you need to know about LASIK

Our mission is to create a world where every investment in modern beauty is Worth It.