To those who worry they could go blind from laser eye surgery.
Can you go blind from lasik eye surgery.
Total blindness meaning no light perception from lasik is extremely rare but it has happened.
It would be extremely unusual for anyone to go blind from lasik especially if you follow your surgeon s instructions and attend all follow up visits as directed.
Lasik surgery itself does not cause blindness and most cases of lasik complications are avoidable by following aftercare procedures set forth by your surgeon.
Take good care of your brand new vision.
For good lasik candidates with good surgeons i can safely say that the risk of laser eye surgery can be viewed with the same level of anxiety as contacts.
And rarely people have even lost vision or had long term pain or other problems.
The answer to this question in theory is yes.
Morris waxler phd the former fda official who was.
Can you go blind from lasik eye surgery.
However while complications can occur blindness does not.
Lasik surgery itself does not cause blindness but if you are in any doubt about the condition of your eyes following the procedure you must contact your surgeon or ophthalmologist immediately.
Even if it turns out to be nothing better safe than sorry.
Yet side effects like glare and halos are common after lasik.
The american refractive surgery council states that no one has ever gone completely blind from laser eye surgery with inadequate aftercare being the direct cause of any laser eye surgery induced blindness.
The american refractive surgery council reports that there are no actual cases of blindness resulting directly from lasik surgery and the success rate is as high as 96 percent.
That said it s important to remember that lasik is surgery.
In short no one has got off the operating table without being able to see.
Legal blindness which is defined as visual acuity of 20 200 or less with glasses has occurred as a result of lasik far more often than lasik surgeons will ever admit.
And like with any surgical procedure unexpected complications can occur.
Lasik surgery is considered to be a fairly low risk and highly successful elective surgery.