Dry Eyes

Dry eyes affect approximately 50% of all patients following LASIK surgery, making it one of the more common LASIK complications. For most patients, this issue will gradually go away between six months to a year after surgery. However, for a few patients, dry eyes may become a serious complication that can affect them for the rest of their lives.

What is Dry Eye?

In order to maintain proper eye health, you must produce a steady amount of tears to keep your eyes lubricated, aid in healing, and guard against infection. Patients suffering from dry eyes following LASIK do not produce enough tears to keep the surface of the eyes properly lubricated.

There are three layers of the tear film:

The outer, oily layer that prevents tears from evaporating too rapidly
The middle, aqueous layer that nurtures the cornea
The bottom layer that spreads the middle layer across the rest of your eye

As you get older, your aging eyes generally reduce their tear production. At times, the outer or bottom layers degrade in quality, preventing tears from staying in your eye long enough to ensure proper lubrication.

Causes of Dry Eyes

Dry eyes following LASIK are generally caused by nerve damage to the cornea during surgery. Many of the corneal nerves responsible for tear production are cut when the flap is created during your LASIK procedure.

Symptoms of Dry Eyes

The most common symptoms of dry eyes are:

Scratchy or sandy feeling in the eye
Stinging or burning of the eye
Periods of excess tearing followed by extended bouts of a dry sensation
Stringy discharge from the eye
Pain and redness of the eye
Heaviness of the eyelids
Blurred, changing, or decreased vision

Symptoms of dry eye may be treated with prescription dry eye medication, artificial tears, and oral flaxseed oil capsules.

Dry Eyes and Refractive Procedures

Dry eyes most commonly occur in patients who undergo LASIK and Intralase. If you are prone to dry eyes or suffer from dry eye syndrome before surgery, you may be a better candidate for alternative refractive procedures such as PRK, LASEK, and Epi-LASIK. At your initial evaluation, your eye surgeon should inform you of this risk and recommend the proper procedure to minimize the chances that you will develop dry eyes following surgery.

Please contact an eye doctor in your area if you are interested in LASIK surgery.