When
One LASIK Surgery Isn’t Enough
LASIK surgery offers potential patients a high
success rate and low risk of complications, but no procedure can
promise perfection every time. Having a properly trained surgeon
helps, and so does screening for ideal patients. The patients
can help by educating themselves, disclosing all pertinent medical
information, and caring for their eyes properly during the recovery
period. Still, a small risk remains. The most common complications
resulting from LASIK surgery are over and under correction, and
near and farsightedness. An additional surgery, often called an
enhancement surgery, may be necessary to correct these additional
defects.
If it is determined that you would benefit from an enhancement
surgery, they are usually scheduled for approximately three months
from the original surgery. This allows your eyes to heal fully
and reduces the risk of inflammation or infection. This also ensures
that the visual disturbances are not temporary side effects. It
is normal to experience a huge improvement in vision within 24
hours of the surgery and then smaller less noticeable improvements
until your full potential is reached. Give your eyes time to heal,
adjust, and reach that full potential before considering a second
surgery. If you are still dissatisfied with your results, discuss
it with your original surgeon. Not everyone will come out of LASIK
with 20/20 vision, and some aberrations have lower success rates
than others. If you see well without contacts or glasses, it is
unlikely that your vision can be improved any more significantly.
Furthermore, not everyone is eligible for enhancement surgery.
The word enhancement may be confusing to some patients that associate
it with certain other cosmetic surgeries. You will not have abilities
beyond that of a normal eye, but you will be enhancing your vision
to the best of the procedure’s ability. For some patients,
even a second surgery will not result in 20/20 vision, and enhancement
surgeries have the same risks as the initial LASIK surgery, so
if your vision has improved significantly, it might be wise to
count your blessings and avoid additional cost, risk, and stress.
Your surgeon should be available to help you assess the potential
benefits and risks of a second surgery, but ultimately the choice
is yours.
