Laser Eye Surgery - New Technologies, New Risks

Laser eye surgery has helped millions of people correct their vision, eliminating their need for glasses and contact lenses. Like any surgery, however, laser eye surgery carries risks. When errors happen during laser eye surgery, patients may leave the clinic with vision problems far worse than they had before. Negligent eye surgeons may be guilty of medical malpractice.

The first attempts at correcting a patient's vision using lasers required cutting the patient's cornea to create a flap. This allows the laser to reshape the surface of the eye below the cornea, repairing many of the patient's vision problems. However, because of the need to remove part of the patient's cornea with a scalpel, any unsteadiness in the surgeon's hand can cause permanent eye damage. In addition, if the flap heals back incorrectly, patients may experience permanent visual distortions.

In order to reduce the risks of scalpel-based procedures, eye surgeons have developed new techniques and technologies. Rather than a blade, newer technologies use lasers to remove the top layers of the cornea. This still requires some amount of destruction to the cornea, however, so there is still a significant margin of error. It may also still take weeks before patients fully recover.

Although many people are pleased with the results of their laser eye surgery, it is not appropriate for everyone. People with diabetes are at a greater risk of complications. Patients with diseases affecting the eye, including common conditions like glaucoma and keratoconus, are likelier to experience severe eye damage than people without those conditions.

Even if a patient not been diagnosed with an eye condition, there may be conditions that have gone unnoticed. A full eye examination is necessary to determine any problems that may make a patient ineligible for laser eye surgery. Otherwise normal variations in the shape of patients' eyes can make laser eye surgery suitable for some but risky for others.

Regardless of the particular techniques the surgeon uses, people whose vision has been severely damaged by laser eye surgery have the right to seek compensation for their medical expenses, losses, and suffering. To learn more about medical malpractice law and the rights of victims, visit the website of the New Jersey medical malpractice lawyers at Levinson Axelrod, P.A. today.