Lasik and Dry Eyes

Bet you didn’t realize that your tears are used for more than just crying at sappy movies or when your team loses. Well, they are. A thin film of tears is spread across your eye every time you blink. That film helps keep the surface of the eye smooth and optically clear.

Most people have plenty of tears to go around. However, there are a lot of people that have a condition known as dry eye syndrome. If your eyes don’t make enough tears on their own, you can experience weird sensations such as burning, stinging, a scratchiness (even though nothing is in your eye), along with a heightened sensitivity to wind and smoke. Not very comfortable to say the least. Thankfully, there are artificial tears now on the market that can help relieve these symptoms.

If you are thinking about having LASIK surgery, though, you need to be absolutely sure you let your LASIK surgeon know about your condition. LASIK surgery tends to dry out the eye anyway. If your surgeon isn’t aware that you are, or may be, predisposed to dry eye problems, he or she may not provide adequate or appropriate treatment.

Here’s why. When the laser is used to cut the ultra-thin flap so the cornea can be reshaped underneath, certain nerves are also temporarily disconnected. Some of those nerves are the ones that tell your eyes when to make tears. All patients use artificial tears as part of the post-operative treatment so the eye can stay nicely lubricated while it heals. However, if you suffer from dry eye and have lasik surgery without informing your surgeon, your results may not be what they could have been because the eye is now producing even less tears than it did before – leaving that tear film required for stability lacking.

You don’t want to sabotage your own vision improvement by not being upfront with your LASIK surgeon, so be sure to disclose anything and everything you know about your eyes when you have your consultation. The more the surgeon knows ahead of time, the better he or she can treat you accurately.

If you already suffer from dry eyes, check with your eye doctor or local pharmacist to find an artificial tear that will give you the relief you need.

Remember – your eyes are the window to your soul. Who wants to look through cloudy or smudgy windows?!

If you are interested in learning more about LASIK or dry eye, or wish to schedule a consultation in the Monmouth and Ocean County area of New Jersey, please visit Susskind & Almallah Eye Associates today.

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