Both LASIK and Contact Lens Wear Carry Risk, but the Risk of Vision Loss is Lower with LASIK in this Study.
A patient from Santa Barbara told me she was afraid to have LASIK laser eye surgery, but had no problems wearing contact lenses. I told her that, while both LASIK and contact lens wear carry risk, there is evidence that LASIK may actually be safer on a longer term basis in terms of vision loss than wearing contact lenses.
Researchers at the Casey Eye Institute at the Oregon Health and Science University looked at the specific question of how often people lost vision from wearing contact lenses compared to how often people lost vision from LASIK. The researchers found that 1 out of every 100 contact lens wearers who wore daily wear contact lenses for 30 years developed a bacterial contact lens infection. Approximately 1 out of 1000 people developed a more serious type of contact lens infection from an organism called Acanthomoeba. 1 out of of 2000 of these those who wore daily wear contact lenses for 30 years developed some degree of visual loss due to bacterial infection and an additional 1 out of 2000 developed visual loss due to Acanthomoeba infection, for a total of 1 out of 1000 contact lens wearers developing loss of vision.
The Casey Eye Institute researchers then reviewed a U.S. military study of 16,000 patients undergoing LASIK. In this group, approximately 1 out of 1250 LASIK patients developed some loss of vision.
The Casey researchers then reviewed 18,000 LASIK procedures performed at their institution over a 10 year period. In this group, there were no patients that developed any significant loss of vision from LASIK.
The doctors at the Casey Eye Institute conclude that “both contacts and LASIK are very safe, although there is a small risk of complications from both of them.”
See Also
LASIK vs Contact Lenses
The Casey Eye Institute review of the risk of vision loss from contacts compared to LASIK.
LASIK Surgery: Safer than Contacts?
WebMD review of data supporting a slightly higher safety profile for LASIK than for contact lenses.
Risk of LASIK Surgery vs Contact Lenses
Archives of Ophthalmology article reviewing the relative risk of vision loss due to LASIK compared to contact lenses.
LASIK vs Contacts
A comparison of having LASIK to ongoing contact lens use.
Contact Lenses
FDA website for contact lenses.
LASIK: What are the Risks and How Can I Find the Right Doctor for Me
FDA website reviewing the risks of LASIK laser eye surgery for vision correction.