Balanced information
Risks & safety, without the sugar-coating
Refractive surgery is safe for well-selected patients — but "safe" has never meant "risk-free". This page explains the full picture so you can give genuinely informed consent.
Common, usually temporary experiences
- Dry eye symptoms — often improving over weeks to months
- Glare, halos or starbursts around lights at night
- Fluctuating vision during early healing
- Mild discomfort or a gritty sensation for a few days
Less common risks worth discussing
- Under- or over-correction, sometimes addressable with an enhancement
- Corneal flap complications (flap procedures) or haze (surface procedures)
- Infection or inflammation — rare but serious; this is why follow-up matters
- Ectasia — progressive corneal weakening, minimized by strict candidacy screening
How risk is managed
Risk is controlled long before the laser switches on: detailed candidacy screening rules out unsuitable corneas, sterile technique and careful post-operative care reduce infection risk, and structured follow-up catches problems early. Choosing an experienced refractive surgeon and being honest about your history are parts of safety too.
The honest bottom line
For most well-selected patients, modern refractive surgery has a high satisfaction profile. But you deserve to hear the residual risks clearly, in person, with your own measurements on the table — not buried in fine print. That conversation is a standard part of every evaluation at our centre.