Laser Eye Surgery Forum

Lasik retreatment

Any comments would be welcome, re:- any problems after retreatment regarding side effects or vision and was it corrected to satisfaction.

Hi Tony,

Lasik re-enhancement is relatively common with about 5% of people undergoing Lasik needing a re-treatment. Providing you have sufficient corneal tissue to perform the procedure again then there is no reason not to go ahead and have it done. Your surgeon will assess your corneal thickness and health of your eyes during a consultation and will only agree to perform the procedure again if they are 100% happy that it is safe to do so.

Hi Tony

By LASIK being repeated, I presume this means lifting the original flap and enhancing the result. This is something done routinely, although much less often than in years previously. There are risks related to lifting the flap, mainly epithelial ingrowth where the surface skin cells can grow under the flap. This is not common if you have a very good surgeon who has a practised and expert lifting technique. The dryness will occur again, as it did from the first LASIK, as the corneal nerves are interrupted by the lift. You need to make sure there is not significant dryness, as if for a primary consultation. I havent seen any more night vision problems after enhancement, but these symptoms are rare when using our WaveLight laser. Other lasers may vary and depending on the options chosen, ie wavefront or not.

Most surgeons avoid repeating the actual flap cut, ie recutting a flap a second time. It can work but there are risks of introducing more optical aberrations and also of interaction between the two cuts when trying to lift the flap at the time of the procedure. If we need to enhance LASIK, we either lift the flap or perform PRK with mitomycin. Safer this way.