A patient from Camarillo who wears daily wear soft contact lenses asked me if LASIK would make her eyes more dry than contacts do. The American Academy of Ophthalmology just published a 3 year long study that compared many issues between having LASIK and wearing contact lenses, including dry eye. This was a very large study of 1800 patients ranging in age from 18 to 60 years old. This study found that, compared to contact lens use, LASIK patients did not have a significant increase in dry eye symptoms. This has been my clinical experience as well. In many cases, people who are having dry eye symptoms come in for a LASIK consultation and we find that we can help their underlying dry eye even before surgery through such means as using omega-three (fish oil, flax seed oil) or using prescription eye drops. Other patients benefit from special lid scrubs to treat blepharitis to improve dry eye before surgery.