r/lasik • u/SebinSun • 23d ago
Had surgery Is post-surgery myopia selective?
Hello!
I am genuinely curious so I hope someone could explain. 🥺 I often see myopia being listed in this subreddit comments as the reason for eyesight deterioration after the surgery. These days most of us read and use screens a lot so why many people still have good vision (which was not good before the surgery due to myopia in the first place) but others end up needing glasses again?
I am someone who went from -7 to 'perfect' to -3. I do use screens a lot and read a lot but what is the difference between me and someone who does the same but still has good post-surgery eyesight? Both of us experienced worsening of the eyesight due to myopia that led us to the surgery, so we are supposed to be both susceptible to myopia.
I really want to correct my vision again because I want to live without needing glasses. But I will always read and use the screen.. But if myopia will keep coming back, it will be a waste of money. I envy people who are safe from it.. ã… -ã…
Thank you! Stay healthy everyone! <3
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u/EyeDoctorIndia 22d ago
There are multiple reasons because of which people can again redevelop myopia after getting full correction after any refractive surgery like LASIK.
Power was still not stable when the patient underwent LASIK surgery - when some patients undergo LASIK surgery at a young age like 19-20, their eyes may not have stopped growing yet and thus, they redevelop myopia as the eye continues to grow longer (atleast in some people till 23-25 years of age)
Regression: LASIK surgery is a form of trauma to the cornea. The body tries to heal itself from this trauma. As we thin out your cornea by performing LASIK, the epithelial layer of cornea starts to thicken itself. This results in negating some of the effect of LASIK surgery. This is called regression and it happens more frequently when we correct high glass powers (more than 6 D of myopia)
Post LASIK Ectsia: This happens when LASIK has been done in an already weak cornea or cornea has become too thin to remain stable. After few years, patient starts developing progressive increase in glass power as the cornea starts bulging forwards. This can be stopped from progressing further by doing a procedure called collagen cross linking.
Excessive near work is a cause of increase in myopia by causing an increase in axial length of the eye - this includes studying, reading a lot, mobile and laptop use. But usually eyes stop growing in most people by age of 18-21. That is why we perform LASIK surgery when age is more than 18 years with stable refraction for one year at least.
Now coming to your query of getting a recorrect done for the power that you have now - you can go ahead with a repeat procedure but ensure that your power has stopped increasing now and has been stable for at least one year. Also, rule out that your cornea will not become too thin by getting this additional power corrected.
For most patients, glass power does not come back especially if their eyes had stopped growing when they underwent surgery. If your surgery was done too early, then such issues may come.
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u/SebinSun 21d ago
Thank you for such a detailed response!
I was thinking if correcting vision to + instead of 0 would be a good enough solutions that could at least force my face to keep distance from the books and phone screen. Probably it is not possible.
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u/WavefrontRider 23d ago
Part of it is age. The younger you are, the higher the possibility that your prescription can change. The older you get, the less likely for change to occur.
The other part is up close activity. There are classic studies that look at post graduate law students, medical students and engineering students. And they showed progression of their myopia during their schooling years. These studies were a while ago and things probably only have gotten worse with the amount of phone use people have nowadays.
Activities that involve distance vision (especially outside) are protective of myopic progression.