I had Lasik 18 years ago. It left me with starbursts and halos. The optical zone was 4.5mm. The doctor now says any more surgery would make me +5 or more. I think that might be a decent tradeoff to be able to drive at night again. He won't do it and suggested I find someone else. Is it a bad idea?
Answer: Treating Night Side Effects from HOAs with Additional LASIK I assume you have no refractive error (nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism), and that your night side effects are purely due to high order aberrations (probably lots of spherical aberration) from a small optical zone. If this is the case, your doctor is partially correct in saying that further LASIK (or surface ablation) treatment to address the HOAs will leave you hyperopic. Exactly how hyperopic you may end up is hard to predict. If your corneas are sufficiently thick, you could consider a second touchup to address the consecutive hyperopia that will likely develop. However, what your doctor has failed to mention to you is that there is a new, FDA-approved laser treatment called CATz, which is a topographically guided laser used for LASIK. The laser, manufactured by Nidek, can treat higher order aberrations without changing the spherical equivalent (nearsightedness/farsightedness). In other words, the CATz treatment will be much, much less likely to leave you farsighted than would a standard wavefront-guided treatment. There are eyedrops such as Alphagan-P which are helpful with night glare and halos. These drops work by constricting the pupil and effectively reducing the HOAs in your optical system. Of course, the effect is temporary (lasts approximately 4 hours), and reducing pupil size at night can reduce contrast sensitivity and overall quality of vision. But, many patients find the tradeoff well worth it. If you do proceed with surgery, you may want to try one eye at a time to make sure it addresses your problems and any tradeoffs are worth it.
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Answer: Treating Night Side Effects from HOAs with Additional LASIK I assume you have no refractive error (nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism), and that your night side effects are purely due to high order aberrations (probably lots of spherical aberration) from a small optical zone. If this is the case, your doctor is partially correct in saying that further LASIK (or surface ablation) treatment to address the HOAs will leave you hyperopic. Exactly how hyperopic you may end up is hard to predict. If your corneas are sufficiently thick, you could consider a second touchup to address the consecutive hyperopia that will likely develop. However, what your doctor has failed to mention to you is that there is a new, FDA-approved laser treatment called CATz, which is a topographically guided laser used for LASIK. The laser, manufactured by Nidek, can treat higher order aberrations without changing the spherical equivalent (nearsightedness/farsightedness). In other words, the CATz treatment will be much, much less likely to leave you farsighted than would a standard wavefront-guided treatment. There are eyedrops such as Alphagan-P which are helpful with night glare and halos. These drops work by constricting the pupil and effectively reducing the HOAs in your optical system. Of course, the effect is temporary (lasts approximately 4 hours), and reducing pupil size at night can reduce contrast sensitivity and overall quality of vision. But, many patients find the tradeoff well worth it. If you do proceed with surgery, you may want to try one eye at a time to make sure it addresses your problems and any tradeoffs are worth it.
Helpful
November 10, 2014
Answer: Difficulty at night with small ablation zone LASIK The problem in treating patients with small optical zones is that removal of tissue [depending on the higher order aberrations] might make you farsighted. This could end up causing more issues with worse vision at all times, even though you might be correctable with glasses, you may end up unhappy. A PreVue lens can be made to determine whether treating you might help. If a Prevue lens clears up your issues, it would be worth a try in one eye first, then the other eye. Surgery would not be the first option. Other options might be to have a contact lens made that is actually molded to your eye. These lenses are new and might be effective as well. Once you got a contact lens that helped, you could further reduce night symptoms by coloring the lens to effectively reduce the pupil size. These things are not standard and might require a higher cost but might help.
Helpful
November 10, 2014
Answer: Difficulty at night with small ablation zone LASIK The problem in treating patients with small optical zones is that removal of tissue [depending on the higher order aberrations] might make you farsighted. This could end up causing more issues with worse vision at all times, even though you might be correctable with glasses, you may end up unhappy. A PreVue lens can be made to determine whether treating you might help. If a Prevue lens clears up your issues, it would be worth a try in one eye first, then the other eye. Surgery would not be the first option. Other options might be to have a contact lens made that is actually molded to your eye. These lenses are new and might be effective as well. Once you got a contact lens that helped, you could further reduce night symptoms by coloring the lens to effectively reduce the pupil size. These things are not standard and might require a higher cost but might help.
Helpful
November 6, 2014
Answer: Higher order aberration 18 years after LASIK Small optical zones are notorious for creating quality of vision issues such as those you are currently experiencing. After a full evaluation, you might be a good candidate for a revision procedure making use of custom wavefront laser treatment. I don't understand why you are being told that such a treatment might result in that level of hyperopia. Your evaluation should make use of a Prevue lens to predict whether or not such a treatment might address your ongoing visual complaints.
Helpful
November 6, 2014
Answer: Higher order aberration 18 years after LASIK Small optical zones are notorious for creating quality of vision issues such as those you are currently experiencing. After a full evaluation, you might be a good candidate for a revision procedure making use of custom wavefront laser treatment. I don't understand why you are being told that such a treatment might result in that level of hyperopia. Your evaluation should make use of a Prevue lens to predict whether or not such a treatment might address your ongoing visual complaints.
Helpful