LASIK Results
LASIK surgery has reached a point of evolution that even the most optimistic surgeons would never have predicted when it first became FDA approved in 1995. A “good” result from my data back in 1999 was the ability to pass the drivers test without glasses, what we call 20/40 visual acuity. A “great” result was 20/20, which equaled what most people could see with their glasses or contacts. I was proud to get about 85% of all my patients to 20/20 in 1999 when we opened EyeHealth Northwest’s first LASIK Surgery Center.
Fast-forward to 2010 and we are playing a different ballgame. Now I can give virtually any patient 20/20 vision, and amazingly we can now get that vision even 1 day after surgery in most patients. I now distinguish between 20/20, or “normal” vision, and the even better 20/15, or “super vision” that about 80% of my patients can see after LASIK. Surgeons had always hoped we would get to this level of accuracy surgically back in the 90’s. I’m still impressed the technology has been able to progress so quickly to compensate for each patients unique needs and healing.
Some specific details are important when looking at LASIK results. First, note that the data I’m showing is what we call a good representative sample. It includes over 100 eyes of consecutive patients with any amount of nearsightedness or astigmatism. In other words, it gives my patients and me a fair glimpse of what day-to-day results are really like in our clinic. We didn’t exclude anyone, nor did we include any patients who might have undergone a second enhancement surgery to get better vision. Enhancements occur rarely, between 1-2% of the time in my clinic, as one would guess given the rate of 20/20 at one month postoperatively. I have always considered the enhancement rate as a fairly good measure of success. My own rate has decreased from about 10% in 2000 to the current lower and better 1-2%. Nationally these rates have gone from about 25% to 10% over that same time. The data published in the VISX Laser FDA trials and subsequent publications by the Naval and Air force surgeons have yielded virtually identical results to mine. There really is no reason to need to perform a second surgery 10% of the time with today’s technology when the clinic and surgeon commit to quality outcomes.
Another measure of the current quality with LASIK results is that we no longer consider 20/40, or “driving vision”, to be a target even worthy of much comment. We essentially achieve glasses free driving vision routinely in all cases. Also note that the current rate of serious problems from LASIK is so low in my clinic and nationally that it would take a database of literally tens of thousands of eyes to find significant trends and problems. This has been looked at in some detail in fact, and I’ve summarized one such analysis of LASIK risk compared to the risks of Contact Lenses here.
