LASIK, PRK > LASIK Results

LASIK Results at LA Sight

by David A. Wallace MD and Sima Tabanfar OD
Updated January, 2011

The most important thing anyone interested in LASIK wants to know is, “What results can I expect from treatment?”. LA Sight publishes a statistical review of our visual outcomes on a roughly annual basis.  We 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 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, typically to their advantage. 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 Good LASIK Surgeon page, for instance, discussing other qualifications to seek and facts to investigate.  

Visual Acuity Results: LA Sight Study 

The information below may clarify or additionally explain the results in the table above.

• In this series of 363 eyes, for which follow-up data is available on all (100%), 358 out of 463 or 98.3% achieved 20/20 or better vision . This includes eyes that received enhancement care.
• 5 eyes (1.3%) had acuity recorded as 20/30. These are all in patients that are happy with this level of vision, and do 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 on our Reading Vision page.
• In this 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.
• This series included only patients who had not had any prior vision-correcting surgery.  Eyes with prior RK, PRK, LASIK or IOL surgery were excluded.
• This retrospective review covered the period May 2009 through April 2010.  Patients with less than 2 months follow-up data were excluded.
• This review included patients treated with all ranges of myopia (up to about -9.00 D in this series) and all ranges of astigmatsim (up to about -4.50 D in this series).