A few weeks back, Tom posed some excellent questions regardinglaser eye surgery. As one of my clients is a laser eye center clinic here in Toronto, I’ve asked the doctors to respond to the questions. Here are their answers:
Q. What if they screw it up? What is the risk of complications?
A. The best resource is FDA.org for unbiased information. There are risks associated with Laser Eye Surgery, but with our experience and technology we are able to minimize them.
With LASIK - there are flap complications which range in severity
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incomplete/complete flap - although not sight threatening, can affect the follow up care (1/10,000)
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post-op movement of the flap referred to as wrinkles or straie - treatment requires the surgeon to re-position and smooth out the flap (1/500)
With any surgery there is the risk of infection and abnormal healing responses. We provide antibiotic and anitinflammatory drops that the patients need to take. Patient’s need to ensure that they keep the surgical area free of dust/dirt/water/debris etc for the first 5 days after surgery.
There is the potential of over/under correction where a second treatment might be necessary
Night vision is a very minimal risk, as the technology has had great advancements over the past 18-24 months. This is addressed with the Wavefront Technology
Q. What about this problem at high altitude. Michigan climber Lou Kaschike had to abandon his attempt on Everest when he encountered a problem with his vision and had to go down. I’ve already done on 7000 meter mountain (Aconcagua) and want to do others, but I don¹t want to risk vision problems at altitude.
A. Altitude was an issue with RK… LASIK and PRK do not present issues with varying altitudes.
Q. Will my eyes continue to get bad or degenerate just because of age (I’m 42) even though I had the lasik? Or, does the lasik arrest that process?
A. Your eyes should not change with respect to your distance vision. Most changes have occured by your mid 20’s. Your near vision will undergo changes during the next 3-5 years. Laser Eye Surgery does not affect this change. You will need reading glasses to correct for the near vision changes.
Q. The surgery runs from as little as $750 an eye to over $4000. What’s the difference?
A. The biggest difference is quality of care
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experience of surgeon and clinic
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technology and advancements used
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often the discount centres will add fees for insurance, medications, follow up charges and of course they will try to upgrade you to a better technology at a premium price.
As well, for those Slowtwitchers interested in the surgery, and can make it to Toronto, I’d be happy to get you the SlowTwitch discount (roughly 20%). You’ll find the clinic (the Bochner Eye Institue, www.bochner.com )here to be among the best in the world (it’s the oldest laser eye surgery centre in Canada, and all the Doctor’s are Mayo trained). As well, for you folks from the US, due to exchange rate and subsidized healthcare, it will end up being significantly cheaper than US counterparts.