Is laser treatment better than specs for eye problems?

Question

Hello doctor,

I would like to know to weather the laser treatment is better than continuing specs for vision. What would be the drawbacks of laser treatment, is it very complicated?

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

This is quite a common question youngsters ask. The best answer to this is it depends on you and your daily activities, profession, and lifestyle, etc. For example, if you want to take up professional sports, modeling, enjoy adventure sports, few jobs in the armed forces, getting a surgery done would be quite necessary. On the other hand, if you want to pursue higher studies and professions where you work a lot with computers and work on fine parts like watchmaking, then surgery would put you at a slight disadvantage as it slightly reduces image quality and increases chances of getting dry eye diseases. Some surgeons also prefer wearing glasses as it protects against infection and blood spurts during operations. With the latest equipment and techniques, laser refractive surgery is quite safe, and outcomes are good. The risk involved is very less. Although a power of - 5.0 is on the higher side, we can still expect good results given that your corneas are suitable for the surgery.The main thing to consider is of course long term outcomes are, as a woman, your power will naturally change during pregnancy and lactation, and this happens to all women. Some have more, others less. This is unpredictable. Surgery only corrects you for distance vision. Another natural change in eyes is presbyopia. Here you need to wear reading glasses. So even if you were to get surgery now, you would only remain glasses free for up to around 40 years of age after which you need reading glasses. I hope this answers your doubts. In case you have any further questions please let me know.