Surgical interference in the eyes induces an almost primordial fear of going blind in patients. Technically, the risk of laser eye surgery is extremely low. There is only the risk that when an eye with an unstabilized defect undergoes surgery, it may be necessary to repeat the operation in the future.
As British sources read: Realistically, the chance of losing vision as a result of laser vision correction performed by an experienced surgeon is too small to measure – close to 1 in 5 million.
Adequate preparation of the patient for surgery and a properly performed procedure, as well as following the doctor’s instructions after laser correction, completely eliminate any risk of vision loss.
It’s possible that patients’ concerns about the risk of vision loss during laser vision correction are related to the fact that the surgery is actually performed with a laser – if the tool used for correction were a scalpel, would there be less concern? We don’t know, but we do know that the lasers used in modern refractive surgery are the modern solutions available on the market. Not only that: new technical solutions are still being sought that would make the procedures even more comfortable for patients, and give refractive surgeons more opportunities to correct vision defects and treat eye diseases.
It is worth knowing that the rapid development of ophthalmic techniques makes laser eye surgery a maximum safe procedure. The number of complications is less than 1% of cases. For any medical procedure, the term “guarantee” is not used, but “effectiveness of the procedure.” The laser vision correction procedure is effective in approx. 95%. Statistics on laser vision correction report that about 95 percent of those operated on achieve a quality of vision safe for driving after the procedure.
When laser eye surgery was relatively new to the medical world, there was much talk that the treatment could do more harm than good. Fortunately, nowadays, thanks to the extensive experience of surgeons and increasingly advanced technology, such stereotypical opinions are no longer reproduced. Laser eye surgery, performed by an expert, is actually safer than wearing contact lenses. Twenty years after the excimer laser was listed by the FDA (that is, in 2015), it was decided to conduct a survey of ophthalmologists practicing refractive surgery in the US.
The study showed m. in. That ophthalmologists are as much as 4 times more likely to undergo procedures laser vision correction and as many as 2/3 of them recommend these procedures to their immediate family members.
