Double vision after lasik surgery. Complications after laser vision correction

Backlash laser correction vision are possible, despite the speed, painlessness and accuracy of the procedure. They can occur both due to incorrect manipulations during the operation process itself, and due to non-compliance with medical recommendations in postoperative period. Correction of such complications is real, however, no ophthalmologist can ever give a 100% guarantee.

The use of laser techniques for vision correction does not apply to medical procedures. These are precisely corrective manipulations that allow eliminating the consequences of eye ailments, restoring vigilance, but not treating the disease itself.

The use of such a correction is recommended for severe myopia or farsightedness, sometimes complicated by astigmatism. Such a restorative technique is recommended for people who, due to professional factors or the individual structure of the organs of vision, are not able to wear glasses or lenses. A person with a large diopter difference in different eyes can also undergo correction in order to avoid constant overwork of one of them.

Before the procedure, the patient must undergo certain preparation.

It may include:

full examination to identify contraindications;
checking visual acuity immediately before manipulations;
application of anesthetic drops immediately afterwards.

During the day before the procedure, you can not use decorative cosmetics and drink alcohol.

During the operation, a laser affects certain areas of the cornea, changing its shape. There are many correction methods currently developed, for example, PRK, Lasik, Lasek, Epi-Lasik, Super-Lasik, Femtolasiq. The first of them is a laser effect on the surface of the cornea in order to strengthen it and restore vision. The return of vigilance occurs gradually over a month. Lasik techniques involve the impact on the deep corneal layers, vision returns to normal faster.

Correcting imperfections in the eyes is not allowed for everyone.

This cannot be done:

minors (sometimes young people under 25);
those who are over forty or forty-five years old;
pregnant and lactating mothers;
in the presence of keratoconus;
people with certain immune system or metabolic dysfunctions;
with serious eye diseases.

Do not carry out correction and during the period of exacerbations of any chronic ailments. If you neglect contraindications, the risk of side effects can greatly increase.

During the operation, a failure may occur, most often caused by technical reasons or insufficient professionalism of the doctor.

Risk factors for these problems include:

Incorrect data entered into the computer.
Wrong toolkit.
Shortage or interruptions in the supply of vacuum.
Too thin or split incision.

This or that complication can lead to clouding of the cornea, the occurrence of astigmatism, monocular double vision, and reduced vigilance. According to statistics, unpleasant consequences occur in 27 percent of cases.

Postoperative side effects

After laser vision correction, the operated organ becomes fragile and vulnerable. Any, even the smallest damage can lead to serious consequences, including blindness. It is very important that those undergoing the procedure follow all the recommendations of the doctor.

Prohibitions may include:

touching the operated eye within 24 hours, rubbing it for at least three months after the operation;
washing and shampooing for 72 hours after laser vision correction;
drinking alcohol while taking antibiotics;
heavy physical work, professional sports for 90 days after eye surgery;
swimming, sunbathing and applying make-up for the same amount of time;
driving at dusk and at night for about two months after the procedure due to a temporary decrease in contrast sensitivity.

In the postoperative period, clinic clients sometimes complain about the appearance of stars or circles in the eyes, as well as dryness of the organs of vision.

Also, after laser vision correction, you may experience:

swelling,
retinal rejection,
conjunctivitis,
ingrowth of the epithelium
hemorrhage,
sensation of a foreign object in the eyes.

Such side effects do not appear due to the low qualification of the doctor or device malfunctions. Such complications are caused by the individual reaction of the body to surgery. In some cases, they disappear after a rehabilitation period, but sometimes additional treatment is required.

Another type of complications is called undercorrection, when another result comes out instead of one. For example, vision falls in the form of residual myopia. Or instead of myopia, a person manifests farsightedness. It will require a re-correction after a period of one to three months.

Long-term consequences of surgery

Complications can appear even after a long time after laser vision correction. Such distant troubles represent the greatest danger to health.

Correction removes the consequences of eye diseases, leading to the fact that vision has fallen. But she cannot eliminate the causes of these ailments. In this case, with the progression of the disease, vision may deteriorate after laser correction after a few years. True, it will be difficult to say whether the hidden problems during the operation or the patient's lifestyle are to blame.

Each of the following problems may appear months after the procedure:

disappearance positive effect from laser intervention;
thinning of the tissues affected by the device;
clouding of the cornea;
the development of eye ailments that were not there before.

So that the vision of the operated patient does not fall later, he must lead a healthy lifestyle, say goodbye to bad habits, exclude excessive physical or visual stress, and follow other doctor's instructions.

If a person after the correction feels that his vision is falling, you should immediately contact an ophthalmologist.

Of course, problems after eye surgery can be eliminated. But there is no 100% guarantee that everything will get better after the new correction. Although doctors can still predict the chances.

They divide all complications after laser vision correction into three large subgroups:

If there are no vital indications for eye surgery, it is better not to perform them. Then you will not have to deal with complications after laser vision correction. But if a correction is necessary, you should choose a proven clinic and a doctor who has performed many successful operations.

After laser (excimer) vision correction, patients often face various complications. One of them is diplopia, that is, double vision. Why does it occur and is this phenomenon considered normal for the postoperative period? Read the answers to these questions in our article.

LASIK vision correction is considered today one of the widely advertised and highly effective procedures. It is often recommended for nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism. Thousands of such surgeries are performed every day around the world.
Much is known about the benefits of LASIK or other types of laser vision correction. Technologies for their implementation are constantly being improved, however, this does not completely eliminate the risk of possible complications.

What are the most common complications after surgery?

According to ophthalmologists, the most common side effects after surgery include:

decreased vision in the dark, as well as under adverse weather conditions;
sensation of a foreign body in the eye, which may persist for several days;

increased tearing, especially on the first day after the operation;
the occurrence of the "dry eye" syndrome, due to the drying of the upper layer of the cornea after LASIK;
eye sensitivity to bright light.

Double vision after surgery. Is it normal?

During the first three days after laser vision correction, the patient may see a blurry or double image. In most cases, this effect disappears within the next few days after the operation, but it can also “accompany” the patient for quite a long time. Doctors say that such a reaction is absolutely normal, but only if the eyes double for a short time. This can be especially pronounced when there is insufficient lighting, for example, while working at a desk lamp, as well as under adverse weather conditions.

Usually, patients complain to their doctors about the appearance of halos around the object they see, or ghosting of the image. Moreover, such defects do not depend on the time of day, that is, they can appear both during the day and in the evening.

What should I do if I see double vision for more than three months?

It also happens that the doubling of the image does not go away after three, five days or a week. It can persist for several months, which causes significant discomfort to the patient. In most cases, in the first days, patients who have undergone laser correction do not attach much importance to this, considering it a normal consequence after LASIK. Physicians themselves are of the same opinion. However, after a certain time, this ceases to be the norm characteristic of the rehabilitation period, and begins to cause unrest in patients. Experiences are even stronger in cases where all other postoperative effects have passed quickly enough, and double vision has remained unchanged. In this case, anxiety is completely justified. In such situations, ophthalmologists recommend performing keratotopography and drawing conclusions based on its results.

It often happens that the reason lies in the peculiarities of the patient's cornea itself. It is believed that the outcome of surgery can be assessed no earlier than three months after LASIK. If double vision does not go away even after this period, then most likely the doctor will recommend a second intervention or, as it is also called, pre-correction of vision.

Diagnosis of doubling and its causes

As ophthalmologists explain, double vision after surgery can be explained by the manifestation of the prismatic effect. If, for example, doubling is noted in only one eye, then the reason for this is most likely astigmatism. It provokes a blurry image along one of the axes, while everything remains unchanged on the other. If the examination shows that the problem lies in the imperfection of the surface of the cornea (this is usually seen during examination on a keratotopograph), then we are talking about a coma - one of the most complex spherical disorders, consisting in asymmetrical coloring relative to the central part of the pupil.

If the results of the performed keratotopogram turn out to be negative and do not show any deviations, then the cause of double vision is a violation between the stroma - the transparent layer that forms the basis of the cornea, and the flap - the corneal flap.

Good day!

Today, almost 2 months after the laser vision correction (LKZ), I want to describe my story, results, my feelings and feelings that I experienced after the operation. I hope for those who are going to make a decision to do or not to do LKZ, my long and detailed review will be useful.

HOW I DECIDED….

To be honest, I didn’t even think about doing laser vision correction. One thought that they would interfere with my eyes, do something there, horrified me. In addition, they were frightened by the unknown consequences that may be after the operation.

One of my close acquaintances made such an operation for herself and strongly recommended that I decide, but for a long time and stubbornly I brushed aside this idea until ...

... once, somewhere on the Internet, I read an article about LKZ and found out that after 40-45 years it is no longer done, due to age-related changes in the eyes. And then something clicked inside me! I'm already 38! A couple more years and I'll never be able to see well their eyes! And here I had a HUGE desire to make LKZ!

My vision at that time was -4.75 and -4.5 plus astigmatism. With such vision, I constantly wore glasses, but I saw about 80 percent in them, it annoyed me, astigmatism did not allow correcting my vision to the proper level. And special glasses were expensive and they were never recommended to me in optics. I tried to wear lenses, but I was uncomfortable in them, so I preferred glasses.

On the recommendation of my friend, I decided to have the operation in Interregional Laser Center (ILC) in Togliatti. I chose Tolyatti because, firstly, it is the nearest city from the village where I live, and secondly, there are reviews of real people I know personally who did vision correction there and were satisfied with the result.

The center has its official site. where you can find all the information you need.

I carefully studied all the necessary information, read all the reviews about this operation on Airek and other sites, and after hesitating for a while, weighing all the pros and cons - I decided!

To begin with, it was necessary to undergo diagnostics costing 2000 rubles. At that time, there was a promotion in the ILC: if you perform an operation within a month after the diagnosis, then the money for the diagnosis will be returned.

DIAGNOSTICS

It is necessary in order to determine the condition of the eyes, whether it is possible to perform an operation at all, and to choose the method of the operation. The method is determined by the doctor.

They checked my eyes on various devices and devices, measured visual acuity, corneal thickness, retinal condition and a bunch of other indicators.

The doctor said that there were no contraindications to the operation, only in the right eye it was necessary to strengthen the retina. I was assigned laser coagulation of the retina. Without this procedure, the LKZ operation cannot be done.

After the diagnosis, the doctor prescribed an operation using the MAGEK method.

MAGEK (contact lens-protected superficial keratectomy using mitomycin) is a modification of superficial techniques using a special drug "Mitomycin-C".
MAGEK is an advanced knifeless laser correction technique. MAGEK is technically no different from PRK (photorefractive keratectomy), but there is a significant difference in the preparations used. After exposure to a laser, as a result of which parts of the collagen layer of the cornea evaporate, the cells begin to regenerate, which can manifest itself as a slight regression (worsening of the initial result) of your vision after the operation. With MAGEK, before applying a protective contact lens to the eye, the perimeter of laser exposure is treated with a special drug Methomycin-C, which stops the regenerating processes of corneal cells, and thereby eliminates visual regression after surgery. Vision remains stable forever.

The main difference between MAGEK. from the LASIK method in that the rehabilitation process after surgery takes longer.

The cost is 40000 rubles. on both eyes.

The diagnosing doctor immediately warned me that vision in the right eye would be restored by 100%, in the left - 90%. Those. I will be able to see the last 10 and 9 rows on the test card, respectively. (By the way, without glasses, I didn’t even see the largest line with letters W and B) Astigmatism was promised to be removed completely. The effect of the operation should last for life.

PREPARATION FOR OPERATION

Before the operation, all patients are given such a memo, which describes in detail what and how to do, what requirements before and restrictions after the operation.

Before surgery:

the patient must be completely healthy (no runny nose, cough, fever, herpes on the lips). If a catarrhal disease has been transferred, 14 days must pass after complete recovery, so that at the time of the operation there are no residual effects.
do not wear lenses 2 weeks before surgery
take a shower, wash your hair
on the day of the operation, do not use deodorant, toilet water,
do not drink alcohol 48 hours before surgery
3 days before the operation, do not use eye makeup
wear non-woolen clothes (preferably cotton)
take with you Sunglasses

DAY OF OPERATION

Was I scared? Of course yes! I was tormented by “vague doubts” whether it was in vain that I agreed to all this. Vision is no joke.

While waiting for the preparations, I was sitting in the corridor and saw a book of reviews on the table. I managed to read it all, there were quite a lot of reviews. After reading it, I felt much calmer: I received so many positive emotions from these reviews! So many happy people described their enthusiasm for the acquired excellent vision, that my last doubts disappeared, and there was more confidence in the correctness of my decision.

There were 6 of us (patients). We were preliminarily examined by a doctor, on the day of the operation everyone should be healthy, without residual signs of illness, so as not to cough or sneeze during the operation.)))

After examination, all were taken to the preoperative ward. They gave out a set of disposable clothes: a bathrobe, shoe covers, a hat. They ordered to turn off the phones, because. they can adversely affect the performance of the laser.

Astigmatism manifests itself as a consequence of a violation of the cornea of the eye, which occurs due to injuries, hereditary predisposition, professional factors, etc.

Side effects are diseases of the visual organs, visual impairment, lack of effect from the operation, rejection of the retina and other consequences are also possible. Sometimes complications appear immediately after the operation and, often, depending on the severity, a second operation is performed.

However, there are cases when the symptoms of complications appeared after a while. This may be due to a violation of the installed lens. Immediately after the operation, severe restrictions are imposed for a period of several days to 90 days, but, for example, visual and physical exertion must be avoided for life.

What is astigmatism?

Astigmatism - consequences after laser correction Source: Astigmatism - consequences after laser correction

All information on the site is provided for informational purposes only. Before using any recommendations, be sure to consult your doctor. Self-medication can be dangerous for your health. Astigmatism is one of the three most common visual defects.

This visual defect is more complex than nearsightedness and farsightedness. The disease is caused by a violation of the outer layer eyeball: cornea and/or lens. The image seen by an astigmatist is fuzzy, blurry in different axes of view.

This deficiency of the eyes is corrected with glasses or contact lenses. The laser allows you to part with astigmatism once and for all. The disease results in poor visibility of all objects, whether they are nearby or far away. It usually occurs when the cornea is shaped like an elongated ellipsoid rather than a ball.

The uneven shape causes the light rays entering the eye to be focused in many places, not just on the retina. With astigmatism, the eye that looks at a point sees not a dot image, but two linear ones, called focal ones.

Most often this happens because the cornea does not have a constant radius of curvature, i.e. it is not spherical. With the correct construction of the eyes, the rays of light are focused at one point: on the retina.

With astigmatism due to violations in the curvature of the cornea, the beam of rays that has passed into the eye is focused at 2 points, causing the appearance of image blur effects. Irregular shape of the cornea (reminiscent of a fragment of a rugby ball) is responsible for 98% of cases of eye defects (so-called corneal astigmatism).

In rare cases, this visual defect can also be due to an irregular shape of the lens (so-called lenticular astigmatism). As a rule, it appears as a result of a congenital defect of the lens. Sometimes congenital astigmatism develops as a result of cataracts.

The disease is very common, the disease affects 1/3 of the population, usually from birth. In many cases, people with nearsightedness or farsightedness have slight astigmatism. A small degree of this refractive error is considered normal and does not require correction.

In mixed astigmatism, the symptoms of nearsightedness and farsightedness occur at the same time. This combination makes it impossible to see clearly.

Contraindications for correction

A person with a large diopter difference in different eyes can also undergo correction in order to avoid constant overwork of one of them. Before the procedure, the patient must undergo certain preparation. It may include:

full examination to identify contraindications;
checking visual acuity immediately before manipulations;
application of anesthetic drops immediately afterwards.

During the day before the procedure, you can not use decorative cosmetics and drink alcohol. During the operation, a laser affects certain areas of the cornea, changing its shape. There are many correction methods currently developed, for example, PRK, Lasik, Lasek, Epi-Lasik, Super-Lasik, Femtolasiq.

Apparatus Lasik

The first of them is a laser effect on the surface of the cornea in order to strengthen it and restore vision. The return of vigilance occurs gradually over a month. Lasik techniques involve the impact on the deep corneal layers, vision returns to normal faster.

Correcting imperfections in the eyes is not allowed for everyone. This cannot be done:

minors (sometimes young people under 25);
those who are over forty or forty-five years old;
pregnant and lactating mothers;
in the presence of keratoconus;
people with certain immune system or metabolic dysfunctions;
with serious eye diseases.

Do not carry out correction and during the period of exacerbations of any chronic ailments. If you neglect contraindications, the risk of side effects can greatly increase. During the operation, a failure may occur, most often caused by technical reasons or insufficient professionalism of the doctor.

Risk factors for such problems include: Incorrect values entered into the computer. Wrong toolkit. Shortage or interruptions in the supply of vacuum. Too thin or split incision.

The likelihood of complications

For the first time after surgery, at night, contrast sensitivity is significantly reduced, patients have poor ability to distinguish the borders of colors and the borders of objects. Therefore, driving a car at night and at dusk is categorically undesirable.

Also, patients noticed the appearance of stars and circles before the eyes. There are frequent cases of excessive dryness of the eyes. Inflammatory processes such as edema, conjunctivitis, epithelial ingrowth, inflammation, hemorrhage may also appear as postoperative complications.

The probability of their occurrence does not depend on the qualifications of the surgeon or on the apparatus with which the operation was performed. The reason for them is the individual characteristics of the organism of patients.

Such complications may require long-term and rather expensive treatment, which, however, is not guaranteed to give a 100% result (complete recovery). There is also the possibility of "undercorrection".

This is the so-called residual myopia, which is corrected by repeated laser correction two months after the first operation. This is another additional load on an already weakened eye. There is a possibility of long-term effects of laser vision correction.

Such consequences are practically not yet studied, because. it is difficult to calculate whether the complications that appeared 3 years after the operation were the result of the operation itself, or these are the characteristics of the body or even the patient's lifestyle.

In the absence of serious medical indications, all ophthalmologists do not recommend resorting to laser vision correction or any other intervention in the eye. Although the percentage of successful operations is very high, it is still not 100%, and as you understand, there is a possibility of complications.

All the same, your eyes are your own, and it’s better not to expose them to the laser. Glasses or lenses practically do not create problems and they can always be removed, in contrast to the results of the intervention, albeit an experienced surgeon.

Diagnosis of the disease

To see if you have astigmatism, you will need to visit an ophthalmologist. When such a vision problem was identified, the first tool to detect it was the keratoscope, an invention of the Portuguese ophthalmologist A. Placido.

It is a disc with white and black consecutive circles. The study includes the observation of the shape of their reflection on the cornea. The degree and axis of astigmatism of the eyes are measured by an ophthalmometer (keratometer).

It uses an image of the Placido disk reflected on the surface of the cornea, which is recorded with a camera and then transferred to a computer and analyzed. The result of the study is a colorful map and a section of the cornea surface, a map of the digital value of its curvature.

The last study is necessary before the procedure for laser correction of eye defects. In everyday practice, an autorefractometer equipped with a topograph is used. All these studies are painless, carried out during an eye examination by an ophthalmologist using devices.

What happens after the operation?

After laser vision correction, the patient does not experience any pronounced pain, but within 2-3 hours after the operation, he can be very disturbed:

lacrimation
Cutting in the eyes
The feeling of "sand"
Photophobia

Bright light can exacerbate these complaints, so sunglasses should be brought to the clinic. Frame, preferably, wash well with soap in advance. After laser vision correction, the patient may experience pain in the eyes, a feeling of clogging, lacrimation. After 3 hours these phenomena pass.

During the first hour after the operation, vision without glasses will improve, but there will still be haze and blurriness. In just a few hours, these complaints will subside, and just a feeling of discomfort will remain.

You should definitely do a slit lamp follow-up examination to make sure that the corneal flaps fit properly. In extremely rare cases, if the patient accidentally roughly rubbed his eyes, their slight displacement may occur, which requires the doctor's control.

1-2 hours after the correction, you should have a control examination on a microscope and be allowed to go home until the next day of the examination. After the doctor's examination, you can go home. We do not recommend that you drive yourself after the correction, as postoperative symptoms of discomfort will not allow you to drive safely.

Use a taxi or ask your loved ones to take you. Public transport is not contraindicated, but one must be wary of infection in the eyes and colds. It is better to leave the clinic by taxi or ask your loved ones to take you home. Driving immediately after the operation is prohibited.

In some clinics, which are especially responsible for the prevention of complications, patients are given special eye occluders - transparent protective screens with ventilation holes that exclude the possibility of mechanical pressure on the eye so as not to damage the cornea during sleep or accidental touch.

Many patients are afraid of the undesirable consequences of laser vision correction. Yes, they exist, but their percentage is so small that with proper selection of patients and the exclusion of contraindications, it does not exceed 0.02-0.05%. Visual impairment after laser vision correction can be due to several reasons:

First, it is the progression of myopia.

If the patient is young and his eye continues to grow in length, then the corrected myopia may partially return.
This question is always discussed with the patient at the preoperative examination. If myopia has returned, then it is possible to discuss with the doctor a second operation.

With careful preoperative diagnosis, undesirable consequences of laser vision correction occur in 0.02-0.05% of cases.

Secondly, the cause of dissatisfaction with the result may be an incomplete correction.

Those. the patient has a residual 0.5 - 0.75 diopter of myopia, hyperopia, or astigmatism. In this case, as a rule, it is proposed to carry out additional correction to achieve the desired result, but not earlier than in 2-3 months. Experience shows that such cases of additional correction are infrequent: 1 eye per 100-200 operations, or even less often.

Thirdly, slight cloud-like opacities may be the cause of some vision changes in the long-term period after vision correction.

These occurrences are extremely rare. A carefully collected history allows you to identify patients at risk and almost completely eliminate these problems.

Hormonal fluctuations during pregnancy can adversely affect the healing of corneal tissues.
It is because of the occurrence of corneal opacity that ophthalmologists recommend not planning childbirth and pregnancy after laser vision correction for at least six months.

This is due to the adverse effect of hormonal fluctuations on the healing processes of corneal tissues. Complications after laser vision correction can be if the operation itself took place with deviations from the planned plan. Most of these problems improve over time or with active treatment.

Postoperative restrictions

touching the operated eye within 24 hours, rubbing it for at least three months after the operation;
washing and shampooing for 72 hours after laser vision correction;
drinking alcohol while taking antibiotics;
heavy physical work, professional sports for 90 days after eye surgery;
swimming, sunbathing and applying make-up for the same amount of time;
driving at dusk and at night for about two months after the procedure due to a temporary decrease in contrast sensitivity.

In the postoperative period, clinic clients sometimes complain about the appearance of stars or circles in the eyes, as well as dryness of the organs of vision. Also, after laser vision correction, you may experience:

swelling,
retinal rejection,
conjunctivitis,
ingrowth of the epithelium
hemorrhage,
sensation of a foreign object in the eyes.

Long-term consequences of surgery

Complications can appear even after a long time after laser vision correction. Such distant troubles represent the greatest danger to health. Correction removes the consequences of eye diseases, leading to the fact that vision has fallen.

But she cannot eliminate the causes of these ailments. In this case, with the progression of the disease, vision may deteriorate after laser correction after a few years. True, it will be difficult to say whether the hidden problems during the operation or the patient's lifestyle are to blame. Each of the following problems may appear months after the procedure:

the disappearance of the positive effect of laser intervention;
thinning of the tissues affected by the device;
clouding of the cornea;
the development of eye ailments that were not there before.

If a person after the correction feels that his vision is falling, you should immediately contact an ophthalmologist. Of course, problems after eye surgery can be eliminated. But there is no 100% guarantee that everything will get better after the new correction. Although doctors can still predict the chances.

Laser correction of astigmatism - consequences

Source: bolezniglaznet.ru

Laser vision correction has recently gained well-deserved popularity. LASIK (Laser-Assisted in Situ Keratomileusis) is currently considered one of the most popular techniques - a type of vision correction using an excimer laser.

Device capabilities

Such an operation allows you to restore a person's vision and corrects almost all deviations from the norm. Restoration of vision through laser vision correction has many positive aspects, but also do not forget about the dangers of this operation, which can affect the human body in various ways.

This should be of interest and knowledge before resorting to such a method. Of course, these are postoperative difficulties in restoring the body, which can be dealt with. But researchers also talk about cases of deterioration in the quality of vision after surgery.

With such complications, vision is no longer amenable to such correction. The statistics of Russian colleagues also largely coincide with foreign studies. Scientists studied 12,500 Lasik surgeries and noted that subsequently various complications and side effects were observed in 18.61 percent of cases.

This is already a serious reason to think. Moreover, these operations were carried out the best doctors using only the best and most modern equipment. Scientists also note that in 12.8 percent of cases the operation had to be repeated. Here are some complications you may face after laser correction.

These are various difficulties of postoperative recovery of the body. First of all, this includes the usual inflammatory reactions: inflammation, edema, conjunctivitis, epithelial ingrowth, sand in the eye syndrome, hemorrhages, retinal detachment, binocular vision disorders and much more.

These consequences do not depend on the skill of the operation performed, but are purely individual and are associated with the characteristics of the body of each of the clients. The treatment period is also quite long and requires special attention and the use of quality medicines.

In some cases, even repeated operations are required. But in such situations, it is necessary to consult with your doctor. Also, as postoperative complications, they also understand simply the dissatisfaction of the client with the result and quality of the operation.

Operational complications. Unlike postoperative complications, everything here already depends on the quality of the equipment and the professional level of your doctor. According to the data, the percentage of such complications is 27, and the proportion of surgical complications that subsequently affect the quality and result of laser vision correction is approximately 0.15 percent.

And it entails both a decrease in maximum visual acuity, monocular double vision, induced astigmatism and irregular astigmatism, and corneal clouding. Although the percentage of these complications is small, nevertheless, no one is immune from such consequences.

No doctor can give a 100% guarantee about the outcome of the operation. Therefore, before resorting to surgical intervention, think carefully, weigh the pros and cons.

Complications associated with ablation. This type is quite common and is associated with an unsatisfactory result after laser correction. Most often this manifests itself in residual myopia. In such situations, doctors resort to a second operation after 1-2 months.

If the doctors did more than was originally supposed, then they will also have to perform another operation, but after 2 or 3 months. But, as in previous cases, this does not mean that a second operation will fix everything. But, nevertheless, not everything is as scary as it might seem at first glance.

Long-term effects of laser vision correction. Such consequences are most dangerous for the human body. This is due to the fact that laser vision correction surgery does not cure myopia, farsightedness, astigmatism, but only corrects the shape of the eye, so that the image becomes clear, without affecting the disease itself.

Therefore, over time, the result of this correction weakens and returns the person to his former vision. There are also more deplorable cases. It has been recorded that sometimes the patient, after the expiration of time, acquires a list of additional diseases of the body.

Also, various physical overexertion and damage to the eye can lead to rupture of the shell. The consequences of which are by no means happy. Also, do not forget about the groups of people who are strictly forbidden to resort to laser vision correction.

Of course, these are young people under 18 years old. Some people talk about the age limit up to 25 years. Also, after the age of 40, farsightedness develops. This visual defect is already associated with the aging of the body, and not with the disease as such. It is also worth mentioning the complications after laser correction that occur in the evening.

Farsightedness as a complication

People with these effects have circles in their eyes when looking at the lights and headlights of cars. This puts car drivers at particular risk. Special complications arise during the correction of myopia. Professor John Marshal of London's St. Thomas Hospital says that in some cases, even a corneal transplant was required.

In any case, whatever it may be, the patient must be informed of all possible complications before resorting to laser vision correction. However, the risk of such a new method is not yet fully understood, but the Lasik method is already very popular and more and more people are resorting to this particular treatment of the disease.

What are the most severe complications?

Complications with LASIK up to 6%, with femtoLASIK and FLEX - up to 2%, with SMILE - 0.5-1% (depending on the generation of lasers, 0.5% is the sixth).

One of the worst complications of any correction other than PRK is keratoectasia (when the cornea protrudes, as in keratoconus). As a result of the operation, this can happen due to a significant violation of the biomechanics of the eye - as a rule, either due to incomplete diagnosis or due to a surprise that the doctor's diagnostic tools could not detect.

That is why it is important to make the diagnosis very carefully and by different methods. It must be admitted that clinics often save on the most expensive "reinsurance" equipment. On the other hand, if the patient already comes in with keratoectasia, then he will most likely have direct indications for good old PRK.

In general, any thin cornea, and even not quite smooth - it is well leveled by PRK. In the early stages of keratotonus, PRK evens out the surface and immediately from above we still do cross-linking (treatment with a high B12 agent, then oxygen release due to laser heating and collagen fixation in ultraviolet - everything to make it rigid, but more on that later separately ).

This niche will ensure the life of the PRK for another 10 years at least. Keratoconus is a complex complication in the medium term. Cross-linking is done immediately, that is, cartectasia is treated as usual. Can be inserted intracorneal half-rings.

Historically, part of keratoectasia after SMILE is when the surgeon found a diseased cornea and decided not to do an invasive LASIK procedure or its derivative, but for some reason decided that ReLEx could “roll” due to its low invasiveness. A diseased cornea does not need to be corrected without strengthening. You can do cross-linking, rings, transplantation.

We have the next most popular detached flap after LASIK, femtoLASIK or FLEX. More often, of course, they get LASIK - they have a total risk of various side effects of under 6%, and at the same time they are still being done a lot in the country. Any patchwork methods of correction are a contraindication to contact sports.

You can give birth, but getting "in the face" is undesirable. There were cases when the flap was torn off because the child simply inaccurately poked his mother's finger in the face, because the woman caught the tomato stick with her eye - in general, very different.

The crux of the problem is that with these methods, a “lid” is cut through, which “folds back” to create a lens inside the cornea, and then this “lid” closes back. It is connected with the eye by a thin jumper - a “loop” and a thin layer of epithelium that has grown from above.

The flap does not grow, and is held without opening, only with the help of the superficial epithelium from above. The LASIK flap itself can be removed even after 8-10 years (there have been cases) - and it will disperse exactly in the same place as on the day of the operation.

In the case of femtoLASIK and FLEX, the flap holds more firmly, there is often scarring along the edges (thin white stripe) - after 2-3 years you can already try to tear it off with your teeth, and it will not give in. In the case of SMILE, there is no flap at all, but there is a “tunnel” (a 2.5 mm incision) through which the lenticule is taken from the cornea - it is also covered with epithelium, but before it overgrows, you cannot wash yourself so as not to introduce an infection.

Contrary to popular myth, the Bowman's membrane, which is located on top of the cornea (which is destroyed by PRK and severely traumatized by femtoLASIK methods) does not provide protection against mechanical damage of the impact type. It provides stability of the "slow" type, in particular, it compensates for the pressure from inside the eye.

Now it's worth talking about the halo effect - this is a halo around light sources at night. Any laser correction can give it. It depends on the size of the correction zone in relation to the pupil. The usual correction zone is 7 millimeters. The pupil of some people opens up to 8 millimeters in complete darkness.

Previously, they generally made correction zones of 4-5 millimeters. The second reason for a halo (more relevant for modern surgeries) is how flat your cornea is in the center. The center should rise (a healthy cornea has more diopters in the center than at the edges - for example, 38 D in the center, 42 D at the edges).

A good pro calculates the profile for the laser cut so that the cornea is flattened over a large area. Excimer lasers have different aspherical profiles for this. ReLEx SMILE itself is aspherical in its very intervention architecture. Yes, the natural state of the cornea deteriorates with any correction, but with SMILE - a little less.

Then we have photophobia and tissue overgrowth. The problem is drugs. PRK in Russia does not use the “usual” metamycin for this operation (it is not allowed at the state level). Analogs are a little more risky. Now ophthalmologists are trying to lobby for the approval of this drug for operations.

The next case is incomplete extraction of the lenticule during the SMILE operation. There were extremely rare cases when there was a part that could not be picked up with tweezers. In this case, cortisone is injected, which stains the small fragment and then you can go inside and remove it.

In London, one of the very expensive surgeons makes a second cut in such a case opposite the first - he does not use it, but keeps it in case of problems during the operation. Usually, if the laser did not cut something in the lenticule, this is the problem of the surgeon, who for some reason climbed and tried to separate the place where there was no cut.

That's right - let it heal and do PRK with topography. Or, as an option, switch to FLEX instead of SMILE. Then tearing the edge of the incision is a very unlikely thing in experienced hands, when the surgeon tears the entrance to the "tunnel" leading to the lenticulum with an instrument.

For this to happen in practice, it is necessary to push him in the shoulder during the operation. However, there is usually no problem: there was a 3 mm cut, it will become 3.5 mm - it's really not a big deal. In the vast majority of cases, the incision tears radially, but there was one example at the very beginning of the history of corrections, when there was a tear of 1.5 mm towards the center.

From the 7.8 mm zone, a 6.8 mm zone was obtained, the patient received a halo effect in deep darkness. The solution is simple - with the other hand you need to hold the eye with tweezers, since then it has been in the mandatory SMILE protocol. Of the serious (but, fortunately, reversible) keratitis is worth noting.

This is an inflammation of the cornea, most often as a result of an infection. Its three stages - in the second, usually cortisone and treatment at the discretion of the doctor, and in the third, rinsing the pocket is mandatory (there is a risk of irreversible scarring). Therefore, after the operation, you are observed the next day and several more times.

Everything else, as a rule, passes within a week or two after the operation, and is associated with the body's reaction to mechanical damage to tissues, or the characteristics of medications. Yes, you can cry for a couple of hours, yes, you can pinch, yes, someone with pain medication then causes a wild desire to honor the eye (which you can’t do). And yes, the first couple of days you better not appear at a beauty contest and shoot portraits for a dating site. Then everything will be fine.

Forecast of daily life

The disease interferes with daily life, in activities that require good vision both from afar and near. Difficulties depend on the degree of visual impairment and how it can be effectively corrected.

Lack or ineffective correction can lead to diseases such as chronic inflammation of the conjunctiva, the edges of the eyelids or constant headaches, increased fatigue when working on a computer.

Children sometimes have a reluctance to learn, while adults experience blurred vision and increased fatigue when driving a car, because of which they cannot see the lights of other cars. That's why contact lenses and corrective glasses for this deficiency of the eye must be accurately matched.

Vision can be corrected with glasses with cylindrical glasses or soft toric lenses, but if the surface of the cornea is destroyed to a significant extent (for example, due to scars, diseases) or astigmatism is large, then with an optical disk.

If the vision defect is corneal, eye astigmatism can be treated with laser correction. If the origin of the defect is associated with the lens, for example, it arose as a result of a cataract, then the problem disappears after an operation to remove the underlying disease.

Using Alternative Methods

In the case of cataracts, the operation consists in replacing the clouded natural lens with an artificial one. With a small astigmatism (up to 1 diopter), glasses are mainly worn only for studying, driving a car, working on a computer.

And almost every person has the so-called physiological astigmatism: about 0.5 diopters, because the correct cornea is destroyed more vertically than horizontally.

Tips for Patients

You need to find out who is a true professional in this field. To do this, it is worth talking to people on forums on the Internet. You also need to consult with an optometrist or ophthalmologist. Keep in mind that surgery to restore vision will cost you a lot.

When you visit a specialist, do not be afraid to ask him all the questions that interest you. Examination before the operation makes it possible to identify those people for whom this operation is unlikely to significantly help. The specialist must conduct a thorough examination of the eyeball.

The doctor measures the size of the pupil in the dark, determines the thickness of the cornea, as well as its topography, carefully examines the fundus (there may be retinal detachment or rupture). Be sure to inform the optometrist about all, even minor diseases.

In competent doctors, the rate of surgical complications does not even reach one percent. All major clinics monitor and provide assistance after surgery, up to correction after surgery (if any).

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Double vision after lasik surgery. Complications after laser vision correction

Postoperative side effects

Long-term consequences of surgery

In this article

What are the most common complications after surgery?

Double vision after surgery. Is it normal?

What should I do if I see double vision for more than three months?

Diagnosis of doubling and its causes

What is astigmatism?

Contraindications for correction

The likelihood of complications

Diagnosis of the disease

What happens after the operation?

Postoperative restrictions

Long-term consequences of surgery

Laser correction of astigmatism - consequences

What are the most severe complications?

Forecast of daily life