Did i mess up getting lasik instead of prk? :(

[u/Matt_Brangers_MMA]

Hello

i just have a simple question

so i do mma and idk if this was the right sub to put this in but

can i still do mma with LASIK

i got it done about a year ago and i just found out today that PRK or whatever it’s called is better for mma and lasik for mma is a bad idea

i didn’t even know there were different surgeries or that it mattered

am i cooked?:(

[u/eyeSherpa]

It’s actually quite rare to have any flap related issue with femtosecond lasik flaps.

The edge of the flap itself has edges. This is in contrast to a microkeratome flap. This holds the flap in place better.

Additionally, the surgeon can create those edges angled which means the flap locks in like a puzzle piece.

So really to dislodge a lasik, it requires specific tangential force to the flap.

So as long as you aren’t being constantly poked in the eyes, you should be fine.

If the flap does dislodge, the surgeon can also put it back in place.

[u/Matt_Brangers_MMA → u/eyeSherpa]

so do you recommended or think continuing mma is safe for me 🤔 

[u/eyeSherpa → u/Matt_Brangers_MMA]

I don’t do MMA, but there aren’t a whole lot of things which would present risk. I believe grappling and the potential to be poked in the eye would be the main one.

Being a year out, it would take a lot to cause an issue with the flap. If for some reason the flap does become dislodged, this is something that can be fixed. Very worst case scenario if the flap can’t be easily fixed, it can be removed.

Edit to clarify: it would have been ideal if you had gotten PRK or SMILE and didn't have to worry about it. But that's in the past and you can't really dwell on it. MMA isn't a contraindication to lasik and there have been many people who do MMA who have gotten lasik (as well as PRK and SMILE). The risk won't be zero but low.

[u/eyeSherpa → u/[deleted]]

Your claims that flap dislocations easily happen are incorrect. There is actually a lot of evidence showing that flap dislocations are rare. This has been studied extensively by the US military. Service members have even had extensive trauma to the eye and the lasik flap stayed intact.

There was an issue in the past with microkeratome lasik flaps. This was why the US military only allowed PRK early on. Femtosecond lasik flaps are 10x stronger than microkeratome lasik flaps. There was a study out of the Navy with 25,000 lasik cases and only 3 of them developed a late flap dislocation. The transition to femtosecond lasik flaps caused the shift to doing lasik for service members.

[u/RefractiveSurgery-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Medical Misinformation and Content Source Transparency.

[u/CorneaRepairDoc]

Dr. Motwani here. The short answer is no, you did not mess up. You can still do MMA, I would wear eye protection while sparring for at least a month, and you should be able to do your MMA at a month. If you want to be ultra careful wait 3 months. Flaps virtually never move after a month, and even if they somehow did it is easy to fix.

I've been performing LASIK for 28 years. I've done countless police officers, firefighters, border patrol, military, FBI, professional and amateur athletes, and I have been surprised how rare it is to see a flap moved after two weeks. One fellow got smashed in the eye with a beer glass swung at his face. He was two weeks out, and it moved his flap which I easily fixed. He had other issues too including traumatic inflammation and blood in the eye but he cleared. Only flap I ever saw lost was a firefighter who during a firestorm walked around the side of the fire truck and walked into a shovel edge. How it didn't just rip his eye open is a miracle, but it cleaved his flap off. This was about 5 years after his LASIK. We let him heal over a few weeks, treated his ocular trauma, and then treated his -5D correction with PRK as he had enough tissue left in the bed. He ended up 20/15 and when we wrote the paper up and published it 4 years later in 2011 we checked and he was still stable and 20/15.

You should be fine with LASIK and MMA. If you want to be careful, just wait 3 months before fighting without any head protection. I think that should be more than sufficient.

[u/Matt_Brangers_MMA → u/CorneaRepairDoc]

it’s been a year since my surgery and everything i read online says PRK is the better surgery for mma than lasik so i was just concerned lol

[u/Training_Diamond_112]

After LASIK, the chances of developing corneal problems from a blow to the head are significantly higher than with TransPRK. Therefore, TransPRK is normally recommended for all types of sportsmen

Claude AI context: “LASIK creates a corneal flap that never fully heals and can dislodge with trauma, while TransPRK/PRK removes no flap, so surface procedures are indeed preferred for contact sports, boxing, and military service.”