LASIK Risks: An Honest, Data-Driven Assessment
LASIK has one of the highest satisfaction rates of any elective procedure — 96% according to large-scale meta-analyses. But it's surgery on your eyes, and you deserve an honest accounting of what can go wrong, how often it does, and what modern technology has done to minimize those risks.
| Side Effect | Frequency | Duration | Resolution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dry eyes | 30% at 3 months | Usually 3-6 months | 95%+ resolve with drops by 6-12 months |
| Halos/glare at night | 15-20% initially | Usually 1-3 months | 90%+ resolve as cornea heals |
| Under-correction | 5-10% | Permanent if untreated | Enhancement procedure available after 3 months |
| Over-correction | 1-3% | Often improves over weeks | May need enhancement if persistent |
| Flap complications | <1% | Usually immediate | Surgeon addresses during procedure or next day |
| Infection | 1 in 5,000 | First week risk window | Preventable with antibiotic drops |
| Permanent vision change | <1 in 10,000 | N/A | Extremely rare with modern technology |
How Modern Technology Reduces Risk
The LASIK you get in 2026 is meaningfully safer than the LASIK of 2006. Femtosecond lasers replaced mechanical blades for flap creation, eliminating the most common source of flap irregularities. Wavefront-guided and topography-guided treatments create custom ablation profiles that reduce halos and glare. Eye-tracking systems follow microsaccades (tiny involuntary eye movements) to keep the laser precisely on target.
These advances are available in Medellín's clinics. The technology difference between a top Medellín practice and a top US practice is zero — they use the same platforms from the same manufacturers with the same software versions.
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