Postsurgical complications are always a concern for your and your patients, but here's some good news.

Spanish researchers at Miguel Hernandez University School of Medicine in Alicante retrospectively studied the retinal detachments of 1,554 eyes treated with LASIK for myopia. Patients ranged in age from 20 to 60. Before LASIK, all patients had an exam and treatment for any lesions predisposing to retinal detachment.

Retinal detachment occurred in four eyes. The preoperative degree of myopia was -13.52 � 3.38 diopters, and the time interval between surgery and detachment was 11.25 � 8.53 months. The retinas were successfully reattached via scleral buckling surgery; differences between best corrected visual acuity before and after reattachment were not statistically significant.

The doctors conclude that there's a low incidence of post-LASIK retinal detachment and that those detachments that occur can be successfully repaired. A significant increase in the myopia spherical equivalent was observed after scleral buckling surgery.