Can Lasik Help with Dry Eyes?

[vivian3090]

I just been diagnosed with dry eyes.
I know this is very early on in the stages, and maybe I'm being stupid for not being patient with eye drops that my optometrist gave me, but if i were to consider lasik (because i dont think i can wear contacts anymore) would it help with dry eyes??

[Hopeful2]

Yikes!!!

There is NO WAY lasik can help with dry eyes! Every lasik procedure induces some degree of dry eye. For those of us who were intolerant of contact lenses before our lasik, the dry eye symptoms are even worse.

If you already have signs of dry eye, then you do not want to be considering lasik or any other refractive surgery.

Sorry to sound so harsh, but it is really is NOT a good idea to consider lasik eye surgery, especially if you have dry eyes already.

This site is overflowing with people who have developed dry eye symptoms after lasik. For some of us the dry eye goes on a long time. Think about what if feels like to have a dry contact lens on your eye. You probably remember the feeling when you just can't wait to get your lenses out. . . after lasik you won't have lenses that you can take out to relieve the discomfort. It is there ALL the time. Drops are a very temporary bandaid to dry eyes.

Try a lasik search on the dry eye zone. Some of what you read might be a bit disturbing.

[alisonW]

Huge 2nd to what Hopeful2 said!!! Not wearing your contacts and wearing glasses instead may help your eyes. LASIK can only make it much, much worse.

[vivian3090]

I'm mortified of the thought that I may have to wear my glasses for the rest if my life. I hope giving my eyes rest with just glasses for a bit may help heal or something to where I can maybe re wear them.....if there is hope.....

[vivian3090]

My concern is just getting rid if the redness....i just don't see how my eyes got this way.

[Guest]

More mortifying than wearing glasses for the rest of your life is getting LASIK that makes your dry eyes totally, irreparably worse, and causes you to walk around with eyes that are even MORE red, wear GOGGLES to protect your now-overly-sensitive eyes, and to top it all off, you can't even wear makeup anymore since if any tiny specks of it get into those now-overly-sensitive-post-LASIK eyes, your eyes are even MORE painful.

Goggles definitely are not a look I'd recommend to the fashion conscious... goggles + red eyes + no eye make-up = well, not the best look (trust me, I know... because that's how I have looked for years thanks to LASIK)

Splurge on a pair of kick-a$$ glasses instead of LASIK... you'll be so glad you did!

[vivian3090]

I don't want that, but I also don't want to be stuck in glasses, with no possiblity of contacts.....
I'm being selfish I know.

[Hopeful2]

I can understand that you 'don't want to be stuck in glasses'. You are not being selfish! It is reasonable to consider lasik as an alternative, given all the publicity surrounding the procedure. You just need to be an aware consumer and know all that you are getting yourself into when you sign all the waivers. Actually, a lot of the risks aren't even made clear in the waivers.

Lasik claims to reduce the need for glasses. If you read between the lines you will see that you may still need glasses. Something that has not been mentioned yet in this thread is the fact that lasik can induce changes to your vision which may not necessarily be corrected by glasses. There is something called loss of contrast sensitivity that almost all lasik/refractive patients experience to varying degrees. It makes it difficult to distinguish subtle changes in colour. Glasses can not correct this!! For more info on vision problems after lasik surgery, you might want to visit a related web site : http://www.lasermyeye.org/index.html

In any case, the risk of permanent dry eyes is not worth it. Take SAAG's excellent advice . . . get a few pairs of fancy glasses. Or look into an optometrist who specializes in fitting contacts for people with dry eyes.

[bakunin]

I don't want that, but I also don't want to be stuck in glasses, with no possiblity of contacts.....
I'm being selfish I know.

You're not being selfish, because if you care about yourself you would never, never, accept the possibility of doing Lasik after have found the amount of information and experiences that this forum has about it.

To ad something to what SAAG and Hopedul2 have said, i would say that you WILL NOT get rid of glasses after Lasik to the rest of your life, first of all because in some cases the myopia or astigmatism come back soon after lasik (that happens to a friend of mine, and she never got rid of glasses, even for few months), and second, the astigmatism or myopia will come back in more or less years. It happened to me in six years, to a friend of mine in ten years, and so on... And the ophthalmologists say it's the way it is (for sure those who make Lasik will not tell you all this).

[vivian3090]

I guess I am out of luck for Lasik/Intralasik.
I just hope once I get this dry eye under control and wear my glasses for a bit, there is a chance for me to wear contacts again!

[Guest]

Hi Vivian,

You're not being selfish to not want to wear glasses... who wouldn't want to try to get rid of the darned things...hell, I sure wanted to get rid of mine, and after being assured by the LASIK surgeon that I'd have 20/20 vision for life post-lasik, and that any internet stories of severe dry eyes induced by LASIK were exaggerated or outright lies, I went ahead with LASIK. I figured I ought to trust a doctor over strangers on the internet, especially since he seemed to be the most experienced guy in town. (Even an ophthamologist who didn't perform LASIK at the time said he's seen a lot of people really happy with their LASIK results... I figured that cinched it then - I'd be safe!)

We just want to make sure that you know what you might be getting as a trade-off for getting rid of glasses. And, since you already have dry eyes, your odds of having major issues post-lasik are way higher than the average person.

[magalvin]

I understand

Hi there! I totally understand your pain. I'm 24 years old, and barely can get my contacts in a day a week for a few hours when I go out. I'm now "stuck" as well with glasses a lot of the time, and it doesn't make you feel pretty at all! I wish so badly I could go back to waking up in the morning, popping in my contacts, and going for the day with no pain. However, I've read so many horror stories with Lasik and dry eye that I'd NEVER consider it. I have "moderate" dry eye, and am hoping once I get it under control, I can go back to wearing contacts at least 50% of the time. The thought of doing a precedure that would most likely make the dry eyes worse makes me wanna jump off a bridge! It seems it's A LOT harder to help dry eyes when it's due to Lasik rather than simply having a mild case of dry eye. I haven't been able to even really wear the "Oyasis" (spelling) contacts comfortably yet, but I'm hoping with Restasis after a few months I'll have some tear layer left and can wear contacts again. My eye doc said once dry eyes is "under control" I could have Lasik, but I'd NEVER risk it as this pain and head aches are NEVER worth it. I'd rather be "stuck" in glasses than have something I can never fix!!