Night vision problems with LASIK

December 9, 2006 3:54 PM

For those mefites who have had LASIK surgery, especially those who had the surgery done with the Allegretto Wave laser, what was your NIGHT VISION like after the surgery? I had the surgery a week ago, and I'm seeing very large starbursts of light when driving at night. It doesn't give me searing headaches, but I find it very annoying and distracting. Is this something permanent that I should brace myself for now? Can night vision problems be corrected with an enhancement surgery?

My pupils are large at 8mm, but I made sure that the optical zone of the laser is larger than my pupils. Did your night vision problems go away right after surgery, or did it get better after a few weeks or months? Overall, I'm happy with the surgery. I just wish I would have done a little more research before hand. On a positive note, my vision is 20/20:-)

posted by speedoavenger to Health & Fitness (10 answers total)

My night vision problems cleared up within a few weeks, if I remember correctly. No starbursts or halos or anything now, 3 years after, at least.
posted by MrMoonPie at 4:21 PM on December 9, 2006

Best answer: My understanding is that, post-LASIK, the halo effect is quite common. It happened to me, and was mildly distracting while driving at night. (To be honest, my night vision had never been that good beforehand.) Then, perhaps 3-4 months after the surgery, it suddenly cleared up. One night I noticed the effect, the next it was gone — just that suddenly. I now have no residual effects from the op, although I would happily have lived with the halos in return for the improved vision and overall clarity.
posted by rob511 at 4:29 PM on December 9, 2006

Response by poster: I'm very glad your night vision problems went away MrMoonPie. Your story gives me hope.
posted by speedoavenger at 4:31 PM on December 9, 2006

I had it for about a month, more or less. Very annoying, but it did go away.
posted by gottabefunky at 4:44 PM on December 9, 2006

My wife had halos bad enough that she really shouldn't have been driving for 2 weeks, perhaps more. After about 8 months, those halos were pretty much gone. Her pupils are big enough that she was a borderline candidate for LASIK.
posted by adamrice at 5:30 PM on December 9, 2006

It's been 7 years since my surgery, and I still am functionally blind at night.
posted by dmd at 5:38 PM on December 9, 2006

I had it for a month or so, then my vision was sharp even at night.
posted by substrate at 5:45 PM on December 9, 2006

They should go away as most are saying here, unless you have large pupils, which you probably don't unless you noticed this effect before you had lasik.
posted by allelopath at 6:50 PM on December 9, 2006

unless you have large pupils

The poster says he does.
posted by nebulawindphone at 7:16 PM on December 9, 2006

Response by poster: Large pupils seem to present more complications, but there is still no consensus on pupil size in the lasik community.
posted by speedoavenger at 1:36 AM on December 10, 2006