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Study: Former contact lens wearers report high satisfaction with LASIK
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Contact lens wearers who chose to have LASIK are more satisfied with their vision a year postoperatively and most satisfied after 2 to 3 years, according to a recent study in Ophthalmology.
After LASIK, former contact lens wearers reported higher satisfaction rates than controls that did not have LASIK and continued to use contacts, according to researchers.
Twenty sites across the U.S. enrolled a total of 1,800 subjects between 16 years and 60 years old who had LASIK or continued using contact lenses.
In follow-up surveys conducted 2 to 3 years after the procedure, LASIK satisfaction rates were consistently high, while contact lens satisfaction rates declined steadily.
The proportion of subjects expressing strong satisfaction with their contact lenses decreased from 63% at study commencement to 54% at year 3, whereas 88% of former contact lens wearers and 77% of former spectacle wearers were strongly satisfied with LASIK at year 3.
Those with night vision issues such as starbursts or halos improved from 49% at baseline (during contact lenses wear) to 60% at 3 years after LASIK, according to the study.
Researchers found that LASIK reduced night driving problems and nighttime visual disturbances among both groups, previous contact lens wearers and previous spectacle wearers.
A small group claimed that they became depressed after having LASIK. Researchers detected no significant increase in the proportion of patients reporting feelings of depression during the 3-year study period after LASIK or in the control group that continued contact lens wear. – by Abigail Sutton
Disclosure: Price disclosed personal fees from Staar Surgical and Transcend; grants from Bausch + Lomb; and other compensation from Calhoun Vision, TearLab, Revital Vision, Interactive Medical Publishing and Alphaeon, outside the submitted work. For a complete list of remaining authors’ financial disclosures, please see the full study.
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