LASIK and Night Vision
Chicago, Illinois
After LASIK laser eye surgery, many patients will notice temporarily decreased night vision, with symptoms including glare, halos, and starbursts. These effects are due dryness that occurs after LASIK and subsides over time. For some patients, decreased night vision will only last a few days; for others it can last weeks or months. Close follow-up with Dr. Golden will help you manage and respond to these symptoms if necessary. With modern Custom WaveFront treatment, 85% of patients have much less glare at night after healed from LASIK than before.
If you know someone with persistent night vision problems Dr. Golden may be able to help. The most common causes of night glare can be attributed to the following causes:
- Residual refractive error – If your cornea over- or under-responds to the LASIK treatment, you may be left with some remaining refractive error, including myopia, astigmatism, or hyperopia. Typically, this is easily handled with fine-tuning generally performed at three months after the initial procedure.
- Corneal flap problems – Sometimes, the corneal flap can have wrinkles that cause a distortion in image. Dr. Golden is meticulous to fix these mild flap issues to prevent this as an issue. He believes that this is one of the areas where a surgeon can be of enormous benefit to his postoperative patient. Dr. Golden sees all of his own postoperative patients and is always available to them 24/7. Untreated wrinkles are a common cause of night glare.
- Decentered ablations – Older technology lasers do not have tracking ability so that the laser treatment may not perfectly centered over the pupil. This can cause mild distortions in day-time vision and substantial glare issues at night, Dr. Golden only uses lasers with advanced tracking technology which prevents this problem.
- Enlarged pupils – Many have heard of the early problems with night glare with early laser technology. This has not been an issue for Dr. Golden’s patients as he told those with large pupils not to have LASIK, until the laser technology changed enough that it is possible to treat individuals with even very large pupils safely and to decrease the glare that these individuals have because of modern WaveFront technology which has a very large treatment zone. Patients with larger pupils and more refractive error used to be at higher risk of developing night vision problems after LASIK surgery. All of the patients at Doctors For Visual Freedom receive a careful comprehensive evaluation and an explanation of risks as they apply to you and your eyes. Thanks to current technology, the LASIK procedure can be fine-tuned to a greater extent than ever, reducing the risk of post-LASIK complications for patients.
Treatment for Decreased Night Vision After LASIK
If you know of someone with night vision problems after LASIK, Dr. Golden commonly is able to help with, LASIK laser eye surgery follow-up treatment. We at Doctors For Visual Freedom believe in giving only the most top-quality care and attention to our patients.
If you live in Chicago or Arlington Heights, Illinois and have further questions about the possibility of night vision complications after LASIK surgery, or are concerned about the result you had from another eye doctor, please contact the experienced eye doctors at Doctors For Visual Freedom today to schedule a consultation.
Two Locations:
Doctors for Visual Freedom Laser Center
875 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 1550
Chicago, IL 60611 | Doctors for Visual Freedom Laser Center
2010 S Arlington Heights Rd, Suite 121
Arlington Heights, IL 60005 |
