What’s the best outcome with laser surgery?
When you think back to surgery in the 18th century, before the modern miracle of anaesthesia was around, things were much different.
Thankfully, times have changed, and medicine has come a long, long way in the past century. It’s now possible to pop in for a swift surgical treatment one afternoon and be back at work the next day.
Since we learned how to manage pain and the spread of infection, severe complications have been significantly reduced and are rarely something patients or surgeons need to worry about. Therefore, for many years the focus has been directed towards driving improvements in screening, performance, safety, and comfort.
As a minimally-invasive surgery introduced at the end of the 20th century, Laser Eye Surgery has been doing this ever since it’s inception. So what started off as a relatively safe and effective procedure, is now one of the most successful elective procedures in the world.
What is your best outcome with Laser Eye Surgery?
One of the largest comprehensive reviews of LASIK outcomes was published in 2016.1 The comprehensive literature review looked at published outcomes from 2008 to 2015. The authors identified 97 papers that fit strict criteria and then performed an analysis of over 67,000 LASIK procedures. The results, which included 5 different laser systems, give us a glimpse into the safety and efficacy of the procedure. The safety was found to be 99.6% and over 90% of patients were able to see 20/20 without any glasses or contacts!
This is great news for prospective patients in 2018. With further advancements in technology since 2015 many clinics are able to report 95% of their LASIK patients can achieve 20/20. Recent results from our clinic show 97% of our short-sighted patients see 20/20 or better after surgery.
- Sandoval HP, Donnenfeld ED, Kohnen T, Lindstrom RL, Potvin R, Tremblay DM, Solomon KD. Modern laser in situ keratomileusis outcomes. J Cataract Refract Surg. 2016;42:1224-1234.