Lasik – How Good is the Actual Result

Lasik is a wonderful and innovative procedure that has helped many people all over the world get better vision and eliminated their necessity of wearing corrective lenses. But, is the procedure as effective as it is stated to be?

Getting a Viewpoint on the Issue

CRSQA is an organization that certifies surgeons based on certain criteria. This certifying organization has laid down some prerequisites on surgeon members performing Lasik that states that a minimum of 90% patients undergoing the procedure must get improvements to a least of 20/40 and a minimum of 50% should show improvements to a range of 20/20 vision.

Usually surgeons will assess the patient and predict the degree of vision correction before taking up the surgery. CRSQA states that the results obtained after the procedure must be in the range of a diopter of the goal set by the surgeon in a minimum of 85% of all procedures and within half diopter in 50% of cases failing which the membership might be nullified.

Most surgeons feel that these expectations are within achievable limits. For the patients, this means the results obtained from the surgery can be quite good if the surgeon is a member of CRSQA as the doctor will have a good success rate. The probability that you can now expect for a good outcome will be definitely in the range of 50% to 85% as this is an established prerequisite that the doctor has fulfilled in the past.

Even non-members of CRSQA usually have had good results and may have attained similar percentiles in comparison to the members as for a good hand the figures quoted is quite easy to reach. But, still it is best to choose the doctor who is a member of CRSQA where you will be more assured that you are in better hands.

Results following the Procedure

Usually many patients will see an improvement in their vision quite quickly after the procedure is done. For some of them, the improvements are slower and happen over a period of a few days or some weeks. Some people get vision changes to a range of 20/20 or better after the procedure but there are few who will only see improvements to a tune of 20/40 or lesser. If a vision improvement of 20/40 is got, it is still a good result as many states have this degree of vision as a minimum to allow driving.

Many patients might still require glasses or contacts even after the procedure has been done. But, in these cases the prescription will be lower than what it was prior to taking up the procedure. If any complications arise after the procedure it is advised to immediately see the surgeon to rectify the problem. The doctor who performed the procedure is the one who has knowledge about your history and procedure and will be able to deal the situation better.

If for any reason you do not want to go back to the same surgeon, it is better to find a new person who will provide help. In such a case, it is best to carry all relevant information about your case history and the procedure to enable the new doctor to learn more about you and your problems and give a suitable remedy.

Advantages of getting Lasik

Like any other surgery there are some possible complications that may occur from the surgery although in comparison to the actual benefits seen by many people, the percentage of the former is very less. One good advantage is the elimination of the wear of corrective lenses on which the person was very much dependent prior to the surgery. This dependence is a huge concern especially in emergency circumstances.

People with poor eye sight have the insecurity of not being able to perform without their eyewear. Lasik helps such people overcome their dependence. Even if the result obtained from the surgery is not perfect vision, the surgery usually provides some results that were better than the vision before surgery. So, it works towards making the patient reduce their dependence on the corrective lenses to function.

Glasses and contact lenses can be very uncomfortable and clumsy. Glasses are usually heavy and will irritate the person’s nose on which it is resting. Also, there are chances that they will fall off or sometimes when the supports are too tight they may end up giving headaches. A constant trouble a wearer will often face is when he/ she need to get up in the night when they will have to find their glasses. Another possibility of trouble is if the glasses get lost.

For all these reasons, many would prefer to have freedom from wearing glasses. Contacts are like foreign objects in the eye and many are not comfortable wearing them. Contact lenses also are frequent trouble makers in inducing dry eye that is highly irritating and uncomfortable. For these reasons, people opt for Lasik as it has the chance that the person might not need to wear contacts or glasses anymore. Also, Lasik provides the benefit of improvements in vision which is a wish sought by many.