That's great to hear, so there still is a chance it might go away. I had more trouble with eye dryness with contacts actually and never really noticed such a problem after the surgery.
That's interesting. I've had problems with dry eyes with contacts, and took that as a reason not to do eye surgery for fear of making the problem permanently present even when not wearing contacts because dry eyes is one of the side effects. So perhaps I should reevaluate.
ah bummer. yeah i had noticable dryness after mine, which went away only after a few months.
contacts are really dangerous, and i feel like this is not emphasized nearly enough. i didn't even realize that as a contacts-wearer until i started to research lasik (i learned that wearing contacts was more likely to end up causing me vision problems than lasik, which is what convinced me to get it).
The doctor did explain that I would most likely have dry eyes as well. Currently, my eyes do not get dry, but I did notice that I do rub my eyes quite frequently. I have been making a conscious effort to break that habit before the surgery and will definitely follow the doctor's instructions to the letter.
I am glad that they surgery was such a success for you. Thanks for sharing your experience.
An extremely important (and grave) misunderstanding is that "eye driness" is just a feeling of burning or similar.
Tears are a crucial part of the vision. With less tears, the eye has worse vision. So one can end in a paradoxical situation where they have a better vision in theory (and tests!), but in practice, they may see considerably worse. And there's nothing one can do - eye drops only last a short amount of time.
I had considerable eye dryness that improved over several (5+) years, which is almost entirely recovered. A couple of years ago I've tried contacts and they wouldn't hold (it wasn't the case pre-op).
The (licensed) doctor was a liar (about the risks), and they actually didn't care about me post-op.
Eye dryness is only a temporary side-effect from laser eye surgery (as are halo effects and increased light sensitivity), which can easily be treated.
There are a few actual complications, but they are rarer than complications from wearing contacts (depending to a certain extent on the clinic, of course).
Did you have "dry eyes" symptoms after your surgery? For some persons (like me), they can't have this treatment because it can damage lacrimal glands. My eyes are naturally to dry to try this securely.
I developed an allergy to contacts during college. After wearing them for more than 15 minutes, my eyes would swell up. I was on a sports team and didn't want to negatively affect my performance with eye wear. So I got the lasik. I had a hell of a problem with dry eyes for years, obviously not helped by spending 10 hours a day in front of a CRT monitor. Finally I got diagnosed with Blepharitis, which is an inflammation of the eyelids caused by tear duct blockage. I treat it with a warm compress every morning and get by all right. I often wonder if the lasik caused the Blepharitis, the contacts caused it, or I had it and the contacts irritated it.
I have a permanent side effect from LASIK which is dry eyes. it's supposed not to last more than a couple of weeks, but it's essentially permanent in my case.
The biggest problem for me was that one of the temporary protective contact lenses that they give you after the surgery came out after a couple of days.
It was the most painful experiences of my life, absolutely execrutiating. A friend rushed me back to the clinic where they replaced it, and put me on some painkillers that pretty much knocked me out for a couple of days.
Other than that, no regrets, my quality of life is much better since I had it done.
It does, but, for most people i know (including myself), they consider them totally worth it. I got halos after the surgery (went away within a few months, thankfully) and somewhat dry eyes (still got it after 2 years), but having dry eyes and needing to use eye drops a few times a day instead of dealing with glasses/contacts is definitely a trade off i am very happy with. And the doctor told me about the possibility of that before i decided to go for LASIK, so I wasn’t even that surprised at all.
As others have said, it depends. What is weird to me is that the citation doesn't state whether these side effects are permanent. I also had LASIK, and did experience severe dry eye afterwards, but it went away within a month or two. I still have halos/bad vision at night, but I don't consider it life-altering. I would have the operation again in a heart beat.
It’s a mark against you being a good candidate. Doesn’t mean you can’t get it.
I had dry eyes post surgery. First 6 months I was miserable. Had to put goop on my eyes at night the viscosity of Vaseline. Felt like years before I got to a normal state.
It’s been about 16 years. I wear glasses again, but I can get by without. Still occasionally have dry eyes.
You are lucky you can use contacts. I honestly don't know if I would have had a corrective surgery if I could use contacts. My eyes are, however, so dry that I never found a brand of contacts that would stay in my eye for more than 2 hours. After that, the eye would be so dry that I would blink them out.
The quality of eyesight isn't binary, though. The chance of total blindness from LASIK is, what?
Ditto, today I'm 1 year to the day after my PRK surgery. The only side effect I had was dry-eye, and man is it a pain. I can't ride my bike without some form of eye protection (sunglasses, or clear goggles). 2-3 times per week I wake up with severely, painfully dry eyes.
All that said, it was worth it and I wouldn't go back. Being able to see without glasses/contacts is a huge improvement on quality of life.
It's about the same as before the surgery - on the dry side. Right after it was rather brutal, I kept dripping my eyes every hour for weeks.
It seems, though, that having air and wind move onto my eye actually helps as I blink more when I'm outside. But it still requires conscious effort to blink often enough, especially when I stare at a monitor most of my day.
I got lasik too and got dry eyes ever since. Most eye drops started causing irritation cuz I was using them dozens of times a day. The preservative free ones were better. I use Biotrue Hydration Drops now and they are great.
Thankfully the dry eyes got a bit better after 2 or 3 years, and I only need the drops 2 or 3 times a day now, vs dozens per day in year 1.
FWIW it's a very common side effect of lasik, unfortunately. If it's really bad you might have to consider disability or at last workplace changes. I had to get a big monitor, turn up the font size, use dark mode, and lower the brightness (while maintain contrast) to be able to work again. And still need to take frequent eye breaks.
I also had dry eyes after PRK, for about 6 months. Been back to normal for a long time though and I consider the minor discomfort for 6 months well worth it.
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