Laser Eye Surgery FAQs: About Results and Outcomes

Do you want to learn more about our results for prescriptions similar to yours? Check out London Vision Clinic’s statistical results and patient reviews.

It’s only natural to be concerned with the results and outcomes you can expect after Laser Eye Surgery. That’s why we have put together some of the most common FAQs we get on this topic. Read on below to learn more.

Can I go blind as a result of Laser Eye Surgery?

Technically there is an exceedingly small risk of blindness with laser eye surgery, but it is lower than the risk of wearing monthly contact lenses for one year.

Watch a video of Mr. Glenn Carp answering this question in a video.

How long will it take to get back to normal activity — like exercise, showering, working, or flying?

Everyone’s recovery from Laser Eye Surgery will vary slightly; however, most people are surprised to learn just how speedy their recovery could be. See below for a typical recovery schedule following LASIK – the most common Laser Eye Surgery procedure:

• Avoid any activities that could risk anything touching or poking your eyes.
• Keep your eyes closed as much as possible for the first few hours and avoid screens (including TV, phones, and computers).
• Avoid rubbing your eyes. If you experience any itching or discomfort, apply the lubricating eye drops provided by your clinic.

24 Hours after surgery

• Take a bath instead of a shower and be careful to avoid soap or water getting in your eyes.
• You can watch TV, but be careful not to let your eyes dry out (continue to apply eye drops when necessary).
• Most patients can return to work; however, you should take care to keep your eyes well lubricated.
• Most patients will be signed off to travel (including by plane), but eye drops should be kept handy in case of dryness.

48 Hours after surgery

• The cornea will largely have healed. Regular activities such as showering are acceptable and you can wear facial makeup (though eye makeup such as mascara and eyeliner should be avoided for a little longer).

Day 3 activities

• You can return to light exercise and sporting activities such as using a treadmill or stationary bike; however, contact sports and water sports (including swimming) should be avoided.
• You can play with small children, but be careful that no little fingers find their way into your eyes!

Week 2 activities

• Racquet sports such as tennis, squash, and badminton can be resumed (but wear eye protection!).
• You can return to swimming, scuba diving, and snorkelling (with goggles!).
• Water sports such as sailing can be resumed.
• You can get back to motorcycling, dirt biking, and mountain biking.
• Team sports such as football are fine, but avoid high-impact sports such as martial arts and boxing until at least one month after LASIK.

Learn more about what to expect from your Laser Eye Surgery recovery.

When can I drive after surgery?

In most cases, patients are able to get back behind the wheel 24 hours after their procedure; however, this will be determined on a case-by-case basis at your one-day follow-up appointment.

Watch Professor Dan Reinstein explain when you can get back to driving after Laser Eye Surgery.

When can I wear makeup after Laser Eye Surgery?

In most cases, patients can apply face makeup and skincare, such as moisturisers, foundation, and concealer after 48 hours; however, we advise you not to apply eye make up (eyeliner, mascara, eyeshadow, etc) until 7 days after your treatment. You should also take care not to rub your eyes when removing your makeup.

Watch a video of Laser Eye Surgeon, Mr Glenn Carp, answering this question.

When can I get back to work?

Generally, patients who have LASIK can return to work 24 hours after Laser Eye Surgery. However, care should be taken to avoid your eyes drying out. Keep your eyedrops handy and avoid spending prolonged periods on screens as they can dry out your eyes. This doesn’t usually affect your Laser Eye Surgery outcomes but can cause temporary vision fluctuations.

Patients who undergo LASEK typically need to take around 7 days off work.

Watch as Professor Dan Reinstein explains when you can return to work after Laser Eye Surgery.

What are my chances of seeing 20/20 after Laser Eye Surgery?

The chance of achieving 20/20 vision after Laser Eye Surgery can depend on a number of factors, including perhaps most importantly, your original prescription. At London Vision Clinic, we keep a detailed record of our patient outcomes. To learn more about what outcome you can expect following Laser Eye Surgery, take a look at our results and stats page.

What are the long-term results of Laser Eye Surgery?

Laser Eye Surgery has been commercially available for almost 40 years, with millions of people around the world having benefitted from this life-changing procedure. For most of these patients, the results are permanent. This was demonstrated in a ten-year follow-up study that tracked the long-term effects of LASIK.

Our founder and surgeon Professor Reinstein was also one of the key contributors to the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) Guidance Document on LASIK, which determined the procedure was safe and effective and that there were no serious concerns about the long-term safety of the procedure if performed with the latest technology and techniques.

Watch as expert surgeon, Professor Dan Reinstein, explains the long-term outcomes of Laser Eye Surgery.

What is the worst thing that can happen following surgery?

With tens of millions of procedures performed worldwide and ongoing developments continuing to advance the sector, Laser Eye Surgery is now one of the safest and most effective options for vision correction. However, as with all surgical procedures, the treatment is not completely without its risks.

There is a small risk of complications during and after Laser Eye Surgery. For example, some patients may experience dry eyes, blurriness, or discomfort following their treatment; however, these symptoms are usually manageable with a simple aftercare routine. In an extremely small number of cases, the eyes may be over- or under-corrected. Thankfully, this is usually treatable with a simple enhancement procedure (which is provided free of charge at London Vision Clinic).

At our Harley Street clinic, patients will undergo a thorough screening process. This initial stage of your Laser Eye Surgery journey typically lasts 2 to 3 hours, allowing our clinicians to perform a range of tests and examinations to determine your suitability for treatment. Our surgeons and optometrists will also use this time to ensure you understand the risk of complications associated with your treatment.

What do we mean by ‘complications’?

Complications can refer to damage to your vision, which could include blurring, double vision, or distortion after your treatment. Overall, 98% of people with a refractive error have blurring, doubling or distortion without glasses, but can see down to the 20/20 line with glasses. Scientifically we define a ‘small amount of damage’ to mean that the eye has lost two lines on the Snellen chart, even with spectacles, compared to the vision before surgery.

In the hands of an expertly trained surgeon, operating with the optimal technology for diagnostics and treatment, the chance of a small amount of damage to the vision is approximately 1 in 1,000 for most cases. Moreover, the chances of an expert surgeon encountering a complication that they were unable to correct are extremely small.

How we reduce the risk of complications

At London Vision Clinic, not only do we have every single diagnostic and therapeutic option available to us in the unlikely event that we would need it, but Professor Reinstein and his team have been responsible for developing many of these tools for the benefit of experts around the world.

Furthermore, we keep meticulous records of our patient outcomes and statistics. We publish more scientific papers in the field of refractive surgery than any other Laser Eye Surgery provider, and we have become a leader in developing complication repair techniques and technologies. We manage to see 90% of all patients we treat at 1 year and many continuously thereafter for routine follow-up to ensure no long-term complications occur.

Our own audited track record for patients in whom we were unable to recover vision to within 2 lines of the original best spectacle corrected vision shows that the chance of this happening is 0.02% (5 eyes out of 25,500 procedures) where we treated short-sightedness (myopia) up to ‑14.00 D, long-sightedness (hyperopia) up to +7.00 D, and astigmatism up to 6.00 D, as well as eyes with the more unusual form of mixed astigmatism.

For more information on the risks of laser eye surgery and their management, do contact us. We are happy to talk about this openly and transparently.

In this short video, Prof. Reinstein explains the factors that can affect Laser Eye Surgery.

What’s the likelihood of needing an enhancement procedure?

Enhancement procedures may be performed when we believe a patient has a real potential of having better vision than that achieved after their initial treatment. This will only be considered if it is completely safe to perform the procedure.

Currently, around 5% of our short-sighted patients and 8% of our long-sighted patients undergo are offered an enhancement procedure. At London Vision Clinic, we pride ourselves on providing the best possible outcomes. For this reason, we will always offer a complementary enhancement procedure if we believe a patient has the potential to see better – even if they achieve 20/20 vision after their initial treatment.

4 out of 5 (80%) of our short-sighted patients up to -9D can see 20/16 or better after all treatments, while almost half (47%) of our long-sighted patients up to +6D can see 20/16 or better after all treatments.

Learn more about enhancement procedures and when they may be offered.

What keeps the corneal flap in position after LASIK surgery?

In LASIK, a precision laser is used to create a “flap” in the surface of the cornea. Your surgeon is then able to reshape the cornea by removing a predetermined area of tissue. Once the procedure is complete, the corneal flap is put back in place.

Initially, the corneal flap is kept in place by a vacuum effect. This occurs when the inner surface of the cornea, known as endothelial cells, pump water out to the inner part of the eye, producing suction that keeps the corneal flap in place. Over the next day or tw, the cells in the corneal epithelium begin to repopulate, sealing the edges of the flap.

The corneal flap will fully heal over the next few weeks as natural substances inside the cornea bond the corneal flap to the underlying tissue.

Watch as our expert surgeon, Mr. Glenn Carp, explain how the corneal flap works.

Could my corneal flap become loose?

The corneal flap is attached to the rest of the corneal epithelium by a “hinge”. However, the flap can become dislodged – particularly if the eye is rubbed or bumped shortly after surgery. In this case, the surgeon may be able to reposition the flap in the operating room.

On rare occasions, the laser can cut a free cap, without a hinge. This occurs in about 1 in 1,500 cases. If this happens, the surgeon will replace the cap after the laser part of the procedure. We will tell you this has happened and warned to take extra care not to rub your eye soon after surgery, to reduce the risk of losing the free cap.

Even in the days when surgeons performed Laser Eye Surgery without a hinged flap, it was extremely rare for anyone to lose the part of the cornea that a surgeon had cut and replaced. If the corneal cap was lost, the cornea may heal thinner and there would be a chance of scarring. This is generally considered a serious complication and there would be an extremely remote possibility you would need a corneal transplant.

What causes night time side effects after Laser Eye Surgery and can they be treated?

There are several common temporary side effects of Laser Eye Surgery. These symptoms are generally mild and short-lived. Among the most common side effects of Laser Eye Surgery is night time glare, such as halos and starbursts. These symptoms can occur for several reasons.

If your eyes were under- or over-corrected during your treatment, some myopia, hyperopia, or astigmatism may remain. This can be addressed with a minor enhancement procedure or by wearing glasses at night.

Having larger pupils can also increase your risk of experiencing night time side effects. This is because your pupils may dilate beyond the area of the eye that has been treated during Laser Eye Surgery. As a result, halos and starbursts may appear around light sources in low light conditions.

This can generally be prevented by accurately measuring the patient’s pupil size before the surgery. The surgeon can determine whether they can effectively treat a large enough area of your cornea with the laser. If this were not possible, then they would disqualify you from surgery.

Patients with large pupils who experience night time side effects after Laser Eye Surgery may find that, when driving, keeping the overhead light on inside their car stops their pupils dilating so much that it affects their vision. Some people find medicated eye drops that stop their pupil from dilating fully helpful.

Halos and starbursts can also occur if treatment is off-centre (known as off-centre ablation). The risk of this can be minimised by choosing a high-quality clinic and an experienced surgeon. This is especially important, since to date, there is no entirely satisfactory solution available. Using Wavefront technology may significantly reduce the risk of glare, halos, and night vision difficulties.

Watch expert Laser Eye Surgeon Mr. Glenn Carp shed light on post-surgery night glare.

What causes dry eyes after laser vision correction?

A significant portion of patients will experience some dry eye symptoms following Laser Eye Surgery. This occurs as the procedure disrupts the corneal nerves, temporarily stopping them from sending information to the lacrimal glands and so interrupting the supply of lubrication to the eyes.

Post-surgery dry eyes is typically mild, temporary, and effectively managed with the administration of lubricating eye drops. However, in a small number of patients, dry eye symptoms can persist, even years after Laser Eye Surgery – though this is extremely rare. A thorough screening process is vital for identifying patients who may be at increased risk of post-surgery dry eyes.

Careful discussion with our nurse both before and after your surgery is important in determining the amount of lubrication required. In severe dry eye cases, patients can use a punctal plug. A punctal plug is a plastic plug that prevents the outflow of tears from your eye to the nose. This device can raise the amount of lubrication in the eye, just like plugging the drain of a sink. A surgeon can place and remove the plastic plugs months later, if required.

Learn more about the risk of dry eyes after Laser Eye Surgery.

Can my vision return to its original level after surgery?

Generally, the changes made to the shape of the cornea during Laser Eye Surgery are permanent. A small number of patients may experience some regression of results following their treatment; however, this will not take their vision back to the pre-operative level. An expert Laser Eye Surgeon can fine-tune or enhance the surgery to further improve the vision if necessary.

Watch a short video of surgeon, Mr Glen Carp, explain more about vision regression after Laser Eye Surgery.

How can I interpret statistical results of Laser Eye Surgery?

Interpreting Laser Eye Surgery results can seem daunting. However, you might notice that differences in outcomes between prescription ranges tend to be quite clear. Generally, the lower the prescription, the higher the likelihood of a better outcome.

When looking at Laser Eye Surgery results, it is important to compare like with like. For example, if your prescription is -5.00D, your expected outcomes are likely to be different to a patient group with prescriptions up to -3.00D.

In fact, results including patients with lower starting prescriptions (-3.00 and below for example) will skew the overall results so this can be misleading for a patient with a higher (-5.00) starting prescription.

Don’t be dazzled by the myriad of stats and numbers — let Mr. Glenn Carp break it down for you.

Do you have any other questions about your recovery or outcomes from Laser Eye Surgery? Don’t hesitate to get in touch with one of our friendly clinic coordinators – they’re always on hand to help! Alternatively, Book a Consultation today!