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Mr. Dave Allamby FRCS FRCOphth is a London-based LASIK laser refractive surgeon and heads up FOCUS Laser Vision. You may have seen him on the This Morning TV show with Phillip Schofield and Fern Britton or read one of several articles in the national press, recently for treating rock giant Rick Wakeman and broadcaster Paul Ross. FOCUS is a world-leading clinic in the treatment of presbyopia, or age related loss of close vision and offers LASIK laser eye treatment for short sight or long sight.

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Laser Eye Treatment CAN be Reversed

November 8th, 2008 • Related • Filed Under

This is a common question about laser eye surgery safety I get asked by patients:

What happens if my vision isn’t right after treatment?

Most people don’t realise that the effect of laser eye surgery, including LASIK, LASEK and PRK procedures, CAN be fully reversed.

Laser Eye Treatment ReversalAlthough this isn’t necessary because if the prescription for glasses hasn’t been fully corrected then a second treatment is easily performed to fix that and stay free from the need for glasses or contact lenses. If the effect of the laser correction is a bit too strong or too weak, we call this an over-correction or an under-correction respectively.

All over- and under-corrections can be treated easily. In fact, as I mentioned, the whole laser eye treatment can be reversed. The move over to the Ziemer blade free system (Z-LASIK) has dramatically reduced the need to re-do LASIK treatments.

Most clinics quote enhancement rates of around 5%.  BUT with Z-LASIK for short-sight I have only had to adjust one case in the last 200, so that’s a 0.5% rate. Without any hype or spin, that’s just very impressive and a great step forward.

To fully reverse the effect of e.g. a short-sighted laser eye treatment, we remove some tissue from the outer part of the cornea to put the corneal curvature back to where it started. So now an equal amount of tissue has been removed across the cornea and so the focus would be back where it started. Of course, the cornea is a little thinner than before, but still strong enough for its role.

It’s the accuracy of the dual laser approach that allows such a very low enhancement rate, which means 9.5% of short-sighted patients are on target and very happy with only one treatment and without the need for a top-up.

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There Are 4 Responses So Far. »

  1. Comment by Randy Sheehan on 30 January 2009:

    Hello, I had strabismus surgery in 2005. I thought I would have Lasik to better my eye sight. It has turned out to be a nightmare. My previously strabisnus operated eye now drifts outward when I look at things at a distance. I have been to a surgeon and was told that eye alignment surgery would not help me. The eye does not have a steady position, so if it is repositioned it will just drift from that position. I also have double vision, light sensitivity, and starbursts. I had Lasik in my good eye and PRk in my troubled eye. I am also(was) farsighted. Can this be reversed. Will I ever have two straight eyes again?

  2. Comment by Dave Allamby on 30 January 2009:

    Hi Randy
    Sorry to hear of your story. Laser eye surgery is not for everyone of course, and selecting the right patient is essential. When someone has a history of squint we need to look very carefully before operating. Surgery is possible but isn’t for everyone, as you have discovered. Where did you have your LASIK and PRK surgeries? And where do you live?
    Thanks
    Dave

  3. Comment by Matt on 20 April 2009:

    This post’s title is pretty misleading. Under- and over-correction can be reversed, but permanent side effects such as dry eye and low-light problems can’t be. I found this out the hard way.

  4. Comment by Dave Allamby on 20 April 2009:

    Hi Matt
    Good comment. What treatment are you on for your dry eyes? And what have you used so far? Sorry to hear of your outcome – let me know and perhaps I can advise to improve things. Were you treated in the UK or elsewhere? We have seen much less dry eye since moving to blade free femtosecond LASIK and with a quicker recovery – evolution in technology helps lessen such risks.
    I wonder which laser you were treated on? Low light problems were more commonly seen pre-2000 with older lasers. Glad to say I just don’t see night vision troubles now (we use a new WaveLight 400Hz system) for myopic corrections, with aspheric profiles and wide treatment zones. We have also seen good results with WaveLight topography guided corrections to enlarge old treatments with small optical zones to improve night problems. If you want to look into this, I may be able to recommend a good surgeon local to you. Just let me know.
    Best regards
    Dave

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