LASIK Results at LA Sight

by David A. Wallace MD and Sima Tabanfar OD
Updated May, 2009

The most important thing anyone interested in LASIK wants to know is, “What results can I expect from treatment?”. LA Sight is pleased to publish its’ statistical outcomes review for a recent series of 424 consecutive procedures (eyes).  I invite other surgeons and laser centers to analyze and publish their results. In that way, we can learn from and help each other. Ultimately, this kind of candid disclosure and public accountability serves the interests of our profession and all patients seeking our care.

When I talk with any prospective client seeking vision correction, I try to qualify my own use of statistics as follows:

1. I am inherently skeptical about anyone who uses statistics in speaking to me. They are usually salesmen or politicians, and both are trying to sell me something.
2. Statistics are designed to analyze trends in a population or a group. They should not be used to predict future results in individual cases. For example, if the incidence of serious complications in LASIK is 1 in a million, that is extremely low for the overall population. But if you are that 1 case, then for you the complication rate is 100%.
3. Regrettably, some people use statistics to distort or misrepresent the truth (always to their advantage, of course). Do not base any decision (especially a surgical one) on statistics alone. Be sure to obtain additional qualifying or “vetting” information. See our  Finding a LASIK Surgeon page, for instance, on other qualifications to seek and facts to investigate.  

Visual Acuity Results: LA Sight Study 

• In this series of 424 eyes, for which follow-up data is available on 422 (99.5%), 416 out of 422 or 98.% achieved 20/20 or better vision . This includes eyes that received enhancement care.
• 1 eye (0.2%) had acuity recorded as 20/30. This patient is happy with this level of vision, and does not request enhancement (often, for those over 45 years of age, retaining slight nearsightedness in one eye affords better arm's length vision than if both are perfectly corrected for "20/20" at distance - see the "monovision" discussion in The Maturing Eye ).
• In the present series, no eye lost vision as a result of laser treatment . Careful patient selection, meticulous attention to surgical care, and the incorporation of wavefront-guided treatment (where appropriate) has helped achieve these results.
• In the present series all treatments were rendered with the Wavelight Allegretto laser. All treatments are either "wavefront optimized" to preserve asphericity in the natural cornea, or "wavefront-guided" by individual aberrometry measurements. This helps reduce glare, halo, and night vision difficulties.