As with all surgical procedures, no one could ever give a 100% guarantee that something is going to last forever. The same can be said about laser eye surgery and any surgeon claiming otherwise is simply not telling the truth. However, there are certain facts about how long laser eye surgery lasts that may help you make your decision:
- Approximately 5% of people having laser eye surgery need to have a laser re-enhancement which means that for every 100 people who the procedure, only around 5 people will need to have it done again. Most clinics will do the re-treatment (providing you are suitable) for free providing it is within a certain period of time from first having your surgery. You need to check the exact policy regarding this before you agree to have the surgery. More and more clinics are however now offering a lifetime guarantee.
- High prescriptions (over -5.00) are more likely to regress than lower prescriptions.
- Plus prescriptions (e.g. +4.00) are more likely to need re-treatment than minus prescriptions.
- The re-treatment rates are the same for both Lasik and Lasek.
- Re-treatment rates are lower for Intralase – For more information on this read here.
- The chances of your prescription returning back to what it was prior to surgery is almost zero. What typically happens when your eyes regress is that your prescription partially returns. For example, if you were -5.00 before surgery then your eyes may regress to -1.00.
As you can see from this post having laser eye surgery is not an absolute guarantee that you are going to have a perfect vision for the rest of your life. However, the chances of needing re-treatment are small and in most cases, your eyes will be re-lasered for free.
