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Poked in eye after LASIK
I had LASIK eye surgery on may 1st today I was cutting the grass and get poked right in the eye by a branch. My vision went blurry for 5 seconds and my eye is throbbing and blood shot. Vision is still a hazy blurr( was perfect prior) I called the doctor and he said to sleep on it and see how it is in the am. Do you think I dislodged my flap? How sturdy is the flap from over 3 weeks ago? What have you seen from your patients of this happening ?
Unless your vision is totally back to normal with no detectable changes by now, I would go see your surgeon to have your flap evaluated for possible change in position, wrinkles or other complications from the eye poke.
I haven't researched this specific problem before but with a quick look I found several comments online about the very slow to negligible flap healing from LASIK. Although the flap usually stays flattened and doesn't cause problems for most patients, it sounds as though it can be wrinkled or shifted by even moderate trauma.
A paper was published in 2013 describing scanning electron microscope analysis of a deceased patient's corneas five years after LASIK surgery. In that paper the authors noted that although the flap and the stromal bed under it were in close proximity, there were very few bridging fibers and almost no cell growth between the two surfaces. They were surprised to find that the flap and underlying bed were still almost not attached after five years had passed.
The authors did note the patient was age 50 at the time of LASIK and age 55 at death; they hypothesized that the patient's relatively older age might be responsible for at least some of the delay in healing. But five years is a long time for cellular growth/linking essentially not to have occurred at all. Of course, that was only the result from one patient's cornea, but it sounds like dislocated or wrinkled flaps are not unheard of.
Good luck; I hope your flap problems were only temporary and that your vision returns to perfect very soon.
I haven't researched this specific problem before but with a quick look I found several comments online about the very slow to negligible flap healing from LASIK. Although the flap usually stays flattened and doesn't cause problems for most patients, it sounds as though it can be wrinkled or shifted by even moderate trauma.
A paper was published in 2013 describing scanning electron microscope analysis of a deceased patient's corneas five years after LASIK surgery. In that paper the authors noted that although the flap and the stromal bed under it were in close proximity, there were very few bridging fibers and almost no cell growth between the two surfaces. They were surprised to find that the flap and underlying bed were still almost not attached after five years had passed.
The authors did note the patient was age 50 at the time of LASIK and age 55 at death; they hypothesized that the patient's relatively older age might be responsible for at least some of the delay in healing. But five years is a long time for cellular growth/linking essentially not to have occurred at all. Of course, that was only the result from one patient's cornea, but it sounds like dislocated or wrinkled flaps are not unheard of.
Good luck; I hope your flap problems were only temporary and that your vision returns to perfect very soon.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Not that strong. We have seen minor injury (fingernail) unseat a flap and going through a windshield not unseat it.
JCH MD
JCH MD
How sturdy is the flap after 3 weeks? Have you seen anything in your practice similar just looking for some opinion thanks!
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
This is between you and your surgeon. JCH MD
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