Lasik Problems Have Caught the Government’s Eye
Welcome to the Lasik Learning Center. This blog offers unbiased information on laser eye surgery and related procedures.
Okay, so I couldn’t resist using a pun in the title of this article. But it’s entirely true. Lasik problems have caught the “eye” of several government agencies in recent months. As a result, three agencies are teaming up to study the long-term effects of the procedure. In particular, they are tracking various problems patients have after Lasik eye surgery.
The agencies involved are the National Eye Institute, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Defense Department. They have combined forces to conduct a three-year study to find out how many patients are having negative symptoms following a Lasik procedure. Patients frequently report having problems after this type of eye surgery, and it has many health professionals concerned. That is in part what prompted this study.
The FDA also issued “reminder” letters to more than a dozen Lasik centers recently. The centers had failed to report patient complaints following eye surgeries, which they are required to do by law.
Common Problems with the Surgery
Lasik (laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis) surgeries have been conducted in the United States for nearly twenty year. Each year, more than a million people undergo Lasik surgery to correct their vision. Many of these people report having problems after the procedure — problems that range from mild and temporary on one hand, to sever and persistent on the other.
But how common are Lasik problems anyway? According to data collected over the last few years, approximately 5% of patients report having problems of some kind. Common complaints include the following:
- Dry-eye syndrome
- Poorer vision than what they had before the surgery
- Troublesome “halos” appearing around objects
- Glares around objects
In more extreme cases, patients have actually gone blind after having a Lasik surgery procedure. These cases are far less common than the ones listed above, but it has happened often enough to raise concern among health officials.
The real problem with all of this is the serious lack of study. That’s what has prompted the three-year study by these government agencies. In the past, there has been a lack of reporting, data collection and health monitoring — on a nationwide scale. So the percentage of patients who have Lasik problems could actually be higher than 5 percent.
To support this new study, the FDA is going to launch a web-based survey to keep track of patient complaints, post-surgery problems and the like. It’s the first time such a comprehensive survey has been conducted on the long-term effects of Lasik procedures. It should reveal some useful data. Time will tell.
The Downside | Brandon | 
November 6, 2009 4:24 pm