So, you’ve taken the leap and gotten LASIK eye surgery, all in the hopes of having perfect vision til death do you part. But there’s just one little problem. Perfect vision from laser eye surgery is a little like love… sometimes it is forever but sometimes it isn’t.
Changes Can Happen to Your Vision After LASIK
The real question behind asking whether LASIK lasts forever is whether the good vision provided by LASIK lasts forever.
There are some parts of the LASIK procedure that are permanent. Once you’ve refreshed your memory on how LASIK works, you’ll remember that the procedure involves using an excimer laser to adjust the curvature of the cornea. The aim of this process is to correct the way that light bends through this surface, so that it can come to a sharp focus on the retina at the back of the eye. In the majority of cases, this modification to the cornea is permanent. An exception to this is if you develop a progressive corneal thinning condition known as keratoconus, which is typically only a risk if the thickness of your corneas were not properly assessed before undergoing laser eye surgery.
3 Things That Can Get in the Way of Your Happily Ever After
A LASIK operation may be considered successful in that it does accurately correct your vision and gives you freedom for glasses and contact lenses. However, there are a few factors that can develop later in life (or even not so late in life) that can affect your sight.
- Presbyopia
The inevitable age-related deterioration of near focus happens to the best of us. Presbyopia occurs as the crystalline lens inside the eye (behind the colored iris), gradually loses its flexibility, which impacts our ability to focus on near objects. For most people, this starts to become noticeable around 45 years old, where they start to hold reading material further away in order to read it.
The majority of LASIK procedures are used to correct an individual’s distance vision, whether near-sightedness (myopia), far-sightedness (hyperopia), and even astigmatism. But successful LASIK and perfect distance vision doesn’t delay the relentless onward march of presbyopia, and you will still find your near vision becoming increasingly difficult as you get older.
- Vision-limiting eye diseases
Refractive error is only one factor that influences the clarity of your vision. LASIK laser eye surgery typically can only improve your vision to the best level achievable with glasses or contact lenses. If your eyes are healthy, this is great. But if you have a pre-existing eye disease or develop one later in life, this can potentially get in the way.
The most common eye disease that is likely to impact the perfect post-LASIK sight you once enjoyed is cataracts. Like presbyopia, cataracts are often a normal part of aging (though can also develop due to other causes). However, unlike presbyopia, not everyone’s cataracts progress to a point where something needs to be done. If cataracts do begin to become bothersome, they can be removed with a relatively straightforward surgical procedure.
Age-related macular degeneration is a big cause of vision impairment in older adults. The macula is the part of the retina that deals with your central vision. Diseases to the macula result in central vision loss. This impacts your ability to perform tasks such as reading, writing, recognizing faces, watching TV, and driving.
- Regression
Regression occurs when refractive error starts to creep back in after initially having your vision corrected with LASIK (or any other type of laser eye surgery). It sure can be disappointing to realize you need glasses or contact lenses again to improve your vision. Regression is more likely in patients who had a high prescription to begin with, and therefore required more corneal tissue removed during the LASIK surgery.
The reasons for regression are not fully understood but doctors believe it may at least in part be due to the healing response of the eye after being zapped with a laser. Options for restoring that great vision if you’ve been affected by regression include succumbing back into glasses or contact lenses, or considering an enhancement laser eye surgery re-treatment.