No surgery is without risk. And while most patients who undergo refractive surgery are very pleased with the results, there are also some risks that come with it. This is why it is very important to be aware of the possible complications, effects and laser eye surgery risks beforehand so that you can weight up whether it is the right procedure for you.

Before undergoing a vision correction procedure, you should examine the risks and benefits carefully based on your own value system and try not to let yourself influenced by friends who have had the surgery or doctors trying to convince you to have it.

Listed below are the most common laser eye surgery risks.

Vision Loss

After the procedure, a very small percentage of all patients experience a vision loss which cannot be corrected with glasses, contacts or a second surgery. This is a very rare, but very serious laser eye surgery risk.

Debilitating Visual Symptoms

A few patients experience halos, glare or double vision after surgery, which serious night vision problems. Even if they have a good vision on the vision chart, they may not see well at night, in fog or in other situations of low contrast. They may even see worse in these situations than they used to before treatment.

Under Treatment or Over Treatment

This is a very frequent laser eye surgery risk. Only a small percentage of patients obtain 20/20 vision after surgery without glasses or contacts. You may need additional treatment to enhance vision, but this is not always possible. Even if you used to wear very weak prescription glasses before treatment, you may still need glasses or contact lenses afterwards. If you used to wear reading glasses before, you might still need them after surgery.

Severe Dry Eye Syndrome

Another laser eye surgery risk is to develop serious dry eye syndrome. After surgery, your eyes might not be able to produce enough tears for keeping moist. This not only produces discomfort, by can also reduce quality vision due to permanent blurring and other problems. This eye condition may be permanent. It is usually treated with intensive eye drop therapy, but other procedures can also be used.

Less Effective Results in Patients with Different Types of Large Refractive Errors

You shouldn't expect too much from a laser eye surgery. To have realistic expectations, you should discuss with your doctor and ask whether you will still need to wear glasses or contact lenses after surgery or not.

Results Diminishing with Age

Another laser eye surgery risk is for results to decrease over time, especially in patients with farsighted vision. If your manifest refraction (an exam with lenses before using dilating drops) differs from your cyclopegic refraction (another exam with lenses after applying dilating drops), the chances of getting this side effect are higher.

For newer technologies, there is not enough research data available. As some of them have been developed only a few years ago, long-term effectiveness and safety cannot be determined yet. Even though they are more advanced, they might have some unknown long-term side effects.