Is 20/20 vision guaranteed with Blade-free LASIK?
LASIK surgery is an extremely advanced technology for surgical vision correction. This is also true when a laser technology is used to create the LASIK flap. The excimer laser is one of the most precise instruments available for use in modern medicine, and it can be programmed to exactly match the refractive correction your eye needs to see well. As such, the vast majority of people undergoing LASIK surgery are very happy with their post-procedure vision. In fact, a person's happiness with their vision after the procedure is a far more important measure of success than the somewhat arbitrary "20/20" measurement done in a dark room of a doctor's office.
However, there are several factors that may cause a patient to require additional help from glasses or contacts after surgery. The excimer laser is precise enough to inscribe letters on a grain of sand and could correct an inert object, such as a piece of plastic, exactly as predicted. However, in LASIK surgery, it is not being applied to something inert, but rather a living tissue, the cornea. Because of this and the individual healing response of each patient there is some variability of response for each patient to the treatment. Additionally, the higher the level of refractive error, the more difficult it is to hit an exact refractive outcome.
