Can Lasik promise a life free from glasses?
So you think Lasik surgery will free you from those glasses and lenses. Think again. Study shows growing number of people have discovered that laser eye surgery is not quite as 'permanent' or 'failsafe' as they had thought. Opticians in the UK are reporting a large increase in patients needing glasses or contact lenses following the surgery.
It can be added that the UK has large population of patients opt for laser eye surgery to improve their vision. Take the case of Jo Cantrill. A recruitment officer from Nottingham, she was very delighted to visualize her future free from glasses and lenses. Initially she enjoyed her life free from glasses. So pleased was Jo with the treatment that she persuaded her mother, Maureen, then 49, who was long-sighted, to have the surgery.But earlier this year, Jo, now 33, noticed that her night vision was less distinct. Says Joe,
"My vision during the day was fine, but over a period of six months, while driving at night, I realised that car headlights and signs were becoming progressively blurred, and there was also a glare around headlights that was alarming."
Introduced in the UK around 1989, the surgery was 'sold' to the public as an end for the need to wear contact lenses and glasses. From that time, it had gone through various new and improved technologies. However, Brenda Billington, president of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists says, "Eye surgery is not the perfect 'throw-your-glasses-away' solution that some clinics claim. As yet, we simply do not know what the long-term effects will be."
Since 1989, a whole host of different types of laser surgery procedures have become available - from the initial Photo-Refractive Keratectomy (PRK), in which the laser is beamed directly onto the surface of the cornea to remove cells to change its shape, to LASIK surgery, in which the cornea is first cut to make a flap.
Despite improved technology, though, the reality is that little is yet known about the long-term effects of the process, and experts say the shape of the cornea will still change with age - which many patients are not told. At least 70 per cent of the population will find it harder to focus on objects as they get older - a condition called presbyopia - or suffer from macular degeneration, in which part of the eye simply wears away. So the likelihood is that many people who have had surgery will need glasses as they get older because of this process.
Return back to Joe, she was told by the doctor to wear glasses at night especially while driving. Professor David Gartry, consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, and a leading expert in this field, says the risks of laser eye surgery should be clearly spelled out to patients. He says,
"It is important for all prospective patients to realise that, as with any operation, there is no guarantee it will be perfect and last for ever."
Source: Mailonline
Filed under Eye Treatment
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