In most cases, once the surgery heals, the LASIK flap does not move. Once in a while, the attachments come loose, and the flap will move out of place, or some traumatic incident occurs to the patient. Rest assured, in most cases, the good doctors of Houston LASIK have solutions, and often, the flap can become reattached. These are the stories of the people who experienced flap degradation.
Dog Scratch
A 59-year-old woman with a successful 16-year and-counting LASIK surgery in both eyes and a well-done cataract surgery on one eye a few years prior had an experience. While playing with her dog, she received a scratch that crossed her eye. Within three hours, vision became lost, and the pain began. She wisely went to her eye doctor. An eye exam of the cornea revealed the scratch had displaced the hinged LASIK flap, which had folded over the hinge. The folding over made several creases, causing the loss of sight. Fortunately, the flap had remained intact but had filled with fluid and became opaque. Treatment began for the injured area, and the next day, debris was removed, and then the flap floated. Vision returned, and it healed. Reports indicated this became the longest time interval incident as in 16 years between the surgery and the reattachment.
Fell Down
A 21-year-old man had Femto-LASIK in the year 2009 in both eyes. Six years after that surgery, the patient fell and struck an eye on an object. A few hours later, his vision blurred, he had sensitivity to light, and he was in pain. At the hospital, he was told his eye was bruised and the corneal flap had dislocated. After treatment for bruising and pain, the man was referred back to the clinic, where his LASIK surgery was performed. The flap had folded, filled with fluid, and became opaque. Another wound outside the corneal flap area was on the eye plus debris. The flap was refloated, and the eye was irrigated. Three weeks after the incident, the flap became transparent, and sight had improved vastly, though not to the prior stance. By nine months, the tissues had wholly healed, and most of his sight was restored.
Basketball
Instead of going into the hoop, the basketball went into the eye socket. The 29-year-old male showed up at the emergency room with right blunt eye trauma from the game. LASIK surgery had been performed on both eyes 4 years earlier. The basketball hit so hard that it amputated his corneal flap and landed on his arm. It was retrieved, contained, and brought to the emergency room. The corneal flap received a treatment of BSS solution and half beta-iodine solution. The Flap was restored on the eye with no sutures and then covered by a therapeutic soft contact lens. In six months, the corneal flap was clear with vision restored.
The Flap Lesson
Flaps rarely move unless major trauma is done to the eye. A dog, an object, and a basketball could not destroy the corneal flap, but it could dislocate it. Rest assured, laser eye surgery with the good doctors in Houston can, in most cases, put your eye and corneal flap back where it should be. Most get all their vision back, with a few losing a bit of vision but not much.
Take care of the flap
As parents always tell their progeny, do not poke your eye or stick things in it. Life happens, and eyes get poked anyway. The good doctors at Houston LASIK clinic have seen it all and fixed it. The fact doctors over a decade ago had such skill that major trauma only knocks it loose verifies the techniques that they use. Protect your flap, but if you can’t, stop by and have a chat at the laser eye clinic. A solution can be found.
Since 2005, Houston LASIK has been providing surgical vision correction technologies to patients from the Greater Houston Area and all over the world. The center specializes in multiple premium technologies including LASIK, EVO ICL (Intraocular Collamer Lens), ASA (Advanced Surface Ablation), and RLE (Refractive Lens Exchange). Houston LASIK & Eye is well known for using state-of-the-art technology and personalized care to help patients see their best. Patients receive customized surgical solutions from a team of highly experienced and award-winning ophthalmologists and optometrists. For more information, visit www.houston-lasik.com or call 281-240-0478.
Sources
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8829057/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6520285/
- https://www.ajo.com/article/S0002-9394(00)00845-X/abstract
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1319453418302996
