LASIK Surgery may be Safer than Contacts

Oct 25 , 2005

A study by the Oregon Health & Science University Casey Eye Institute found that LASIK laser eye surgery is safer than wearing contact lenses.

The report’s author, William Mathers, M.D. professor of ophthalmology at the OHSU School of Medicine reviewed recent data and published his results in Archives of Ophthalmology.

LASIK surgery, also known as laser eye surgery, or refractive surgery, utilizes a laser to resurface the eye to correct vision.

“Several times a year, I have patients who lose eyes from complications because they’ve been wearing contacts and they’ve gotten an infection. By this I mean their eyes have to be physically removed from their bodies,” said Mathers, former president of the Contact Lens Association of Ophthalmologists. “It’s not that contacts aren’t good. They’re better than they’ve ever been. But one cannot assume contacts are safer.”

The risks associated with contact use are different from the ones associated with laser eye procedures. Contact lenses carry a one in 100 risk of keratitis – a bacterial infection and inflammation of the cornea. This condition can result in loss of vision.

The risk of contracting this infection is increased by years of daily contact lens wear, sleeping with contact lenses in place, and not following proper lens cleaning procedures.

Mathers looked at the results of a large study conducted on military personnel who had LASIK surgeries performed.

The study looked at the results of 32,000 laser eye surgeries. It found that only one in 1,250 patients reported minimal vision loss – one, or less than one line’s worth on an eye chart. There were no reports of losses of more than two lines.

“Even with perfect care of your contacts, the risks for infection and vision loss are still there,” Mathers said. “Our long-term results at OHSU confirm the experiences of the U.S. military: laser surgery is as safe, and probably safer than the long-term use of contact lenses.”

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