Advertisement La Crosse eye specialists who perform the laser surgery, known as LASIK, thought the story was a little outrageous. Some others thought it was ridiculous that refractive surgery could lead to depression.
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“It’s not a complication I’ve seen or been reported to me,” said Dr. Robert Freedland, a Franciscan Skemp Healthcare ophthalmologist who has done the LASIK procedure on more than 2,000 eyes in 11 years.
“I think it has a lot to do with people’s unrealistic expectations about what the procedure can do,” he said. “I tell people I’m basically building a set of contact lenses on their eyes, and it may not make them more popular, happier or have a better outlook on life.”
He said the commercialization of LASIK may be partly to blame because the benefits may be oversold in advertising.
Freedland said he carefully screens patients for corneal thickness and other eye problems, and spends a lot of time explaining the potential risks and benefits of LASIK.
“I advise them that our goal is to greatly improve their vision without glasses,” Freedland said. “I generally tell them that there may well be a pair of glasses in all of their futures, especially if they choose not to go with monovision and they are nearing or over 40.
“And even if they do have monovision, I generally recommend a pair of glasses for night driving and intensive near-work,” he said. “We never tell them they are going to throw away their prescription.”
Freedland said he has had happy patients who have reduced their reliance on glasses and contact lenses and many who function virtually without them.
“We have farmers who can now go into barns in the winter without having their vision fog up,” Freedland said. “We have moms and dads who can now see their kids in the swimming pool or who no longer have to worry about finding their glasses in the case of an emergency.
“We have taken people out of contact lenses, which have their own given risk for infection and vision loss by giving them a refractive procedure,” he said.
Generally, complications are in the 1 percent to 2 percent range, he said. Probably about one in eight patients now require an “enhancement”’ or secondary treatment to get even closer to their desired refractive result, Freedland said.
“We have had some patients that have had dry eye problems in the first month or two after the procedure,” he said. “Generally, our patients who have problems are able to have their problems treated and taken care of without further difficulty.”
Freedland said he has not seen any significant infections in his patients and no one has had a significant visual loss after the procedure.
“Nobody has had any psychiatric problem after the procedure, such as depression, that has required treatment due to the operation,” he said.
