What's the best LASIK procedure to correct night vision?

Doctor's Answer

Hi Moi

I think the more accurate way of looking at it is to ask about a procedure to reduce (or 'correct') your spectacle power, rather than to correct night vision.

The primary aim of all refractive procedures, whether LASIK, epiLASIK, SMILE or ICL surgery is to reduce spectacle power. They are not designed/meant to correct night vision.

In your case, with high shortsightedness (myopia) and astigmatism, it may be that ICL surgery can give you a good result while affecting night vision less than LASIK.

Generally speaking, the higher the power that is treated with a laser procedure (whether LASIK, epiLASIK or SMILE), the higher the risk that after surgery there are some visual issues at night. These can include some amount of halos, and overall shortsighted feeling if the optical zone treated by the laser needs to be smaller to minimise cornea tissue removal.

As ICL surgery implants a lens of a fixed optical zone into the eye, these issues are minimized. It is still possible to see a thin ring of light or some reflections from the ICL implant, however, these are likely to be much less compared with laser procedures for very high spectacle powers.

Actual suitability for the various kinds of surgery can only be determined after you have a full check up in the clinic, with testing for spectacle power, corneal thickness and anterior chamber depth being particularly important.

To sum up, no refractive procedure corrects night vision. In fact, they may degrade night vision to some extent, the risk increasing somewhat the higher the power that is being treated. Bearing in mind the different options, it is likely that ICL surgery degrades night vision the least for very high spectacle powers. For lower spectacle powers, laser refractive surgery will remain the procedure of choice for most suitable patients.

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