ABSTRACT
The majority of LASIK complications occur intraoperatively. Preoperative complications are related to inadequate preparation for surgery (Table 1). Postoperative complications are almost always related to events that occurred during surgery. Many complications unique to LASIK are microkeratome related. With improvement in microkeratome technology, the incidence of LASIK complications has been substantially reduced and may decrease further as instrumentation becomes more sophisticated (1). In a study by Stulting et al. (2), the incidence of intraoperative complications decreased from 2.1% during the first 3 months to 0.7% during the last 9 months of the study, proving that the complication rates can be reduced as the surgical team gains experience. Most intra-and postoperative complications are common to myopic and hyperopic LASIK. Several complications may be prevented if slit lamp examination is performed in the immediate postoperative period.
