Evaluating the Impacts of Lasik on Patients

Topic: Evaluating the impacts of LASIK on patients

title could be more specific

LASIK (Laser-Assisted in situ Keratomileusis) surgery is the most popular operation performed around the world (Solomon et al., 2009). Statistics estimate that almost one million patients have undergone refractive surgeries each year just in the United States (ibid.). Owing to its prevalence, a debate on whether LASIK is good or bad has been sparked off for a number of years. Advocates hold the view that LASIK is safe and effective for correcting different degrees of myopia (Lin & Tsai, 2005). On the flip side, opponents contend that there are a considerable number of negative impacts found in post-LASIK eyes. While acknowledging that LASIK can bring some advantages to patients, this essay argues that to a large extent, the harms brought by LASIK surgery outweigh the benefits in

two different respects, which are the seriousness and duration of impacts.

vocabulary could be improved

clear thesis statement

One of the main advantages of undergoing LASIK surgery is that it is a quick, functional and clinical visual surgery, which works for different levels of myopia or hyperopia (Azar & Koch, 2003) A study with a quite large sample size of 300 surgeries was carried out to examine the effects of LASIK (Maldonado-Bas & Onnis, 1998). The conclusion drawn from it is that LASIK results

reading - generally are stable and acceptable, with some exceptions only. Thus, LASIK is believed to be able to comments

level of daily life. For instance, the questionnaire asked 66 patients whether they encountered reports the study

different troubles physically or changed their feelings mentally after LASIK. From the study, the

results show that there are improvements in QIRC scores from a pre-score of around 40 to a mean

score of around 53 after LASIK for treating myopia in most of the patients. From the above findings,

they are in agreement with the LASIK’s benefits, which are able to cure different levels of myopia or

hyperopia and improve patients’ quality of life. However, the benefits brought seem to be a little bit

superficial on the ground that these advantages can be observed easily in the short term. The studies

above do not deeply investigate in whether there would be some long-term severe impacts. It can be

argued that more serious impacts in the long term really exist that can overshadow the benefits.

sentence structure needs attention

evaluates the studies - very good evidence of thinking critically about the evidence presented in the research

One of the major disadvantages of LASIK is that it can lead to chronic eye problems, which are dry eye and regression. From the conclusion of a study (De Paiva et al., 2006), after LASIK surgery, symptoms of dry eye were usually found among the 35 patients even those with no history of these symptoms. The effect lasted for at least one month after the surgery (Toda, Asano-Kato, Komai-Hori, & Tsubota, 2001). Because of the lack of the production of tears, a reduction in the ability of the eye surface to respond to changes in environment is found (Kunert, Tisdale, Stern, Smith & Gipson, 2000). This could lead to various kinds of eye

diseases. Moreover, another far more serious impact is triggered, which is eye regression.

more detail needed here

According to a study given by the American Academy of Ophthalmology (2005), although LASIK is quite effective to correct low degrees of hyperopia, there is a regression throughout the 5-year follow-up that is much greater than would be foreseen as a consequence of ageing. Hence, the above studies show that LASIK can bring about two serious far-reaching negative impacts, which are chronic dry eye and regression. Patients should pay attention to these severe long-term impacts when considering the benefits of LASIK.

Another main disadvantage of LASIK is the decrease in the visual quality, which is owing to different night vision disturbances. Based on a study (Villa, Gutierrez, Jimenez & Gonzalez- Meijome, 2007), after undergoing a successful LASIK surgery, patients display a rise in halo phenomena around lights especially in night vision conditions. It is believed that these patients may find it difficult to read especially at night. Also, this is also a long-term impact. Another study

(Lackner et al., 2003) investigates in the span of this impact for six months. It reports that the