My mom had lasik done 4 weeks ago to correct her farsighted vision. Post - op she was doing ok until day 9 when she began to experience blurred vision...seeing double...unable to focus etc. When this occured (11/19/01) she was unable to drive, read, work or complete basic tasks. We went to the eye clinic on that day and they diagnosed her with flap edema , fluid in the flap. They instructed her to go back on her steroid drops every couple hours for a week and to do wetting drops twice an hour. Then we went back after a week(11/26/01) and they diagnosed her with dry eye so they put plugs in the lower part of both eyes, cut back to steroid drops every 4 hours, continue with the wetting drops as often as possible and wait. OUr next visit (12/3/01) they said the flaps look fairly good but are still healing, her eyes are not as dry but are somewhat dry still and then they dilated het and diagnosed her with astigmatism, more pronounced inth eleft eye but present in both. It was stated that in 3 months he would correct that and in the mean time be patient, continue with the wetting drops as often as possible, steroid drops every 4 hours and non steroid drops every 4 hours. They say her readings are 20/80 and 20/50 and they are unable to find a lens that clears up the blurred vision and the halo effect so she has a hard time completing tasks and is still unable to drive and work. They tell het to be patient and all will be ok....does that sound reasonable. I would like to get a second opinion but no one wants to see her. What can we do to help her function...she lives alone and is struggling daily. Does what they have done so far seem right for her complications? Help?

This is extremely important. I am aware of a number of cases where the pressure in the eye went up following LASIK. Steroid eye drops can raise the pressure in the eye, but typically doctors do not check the pressure during the first few weeks after LASIK. Elevated pressure after LASIK is a serious cause of flap swelling like you are describing.
This situation can be even more tricky, as a pocket of fluid can develop under the flap, so that if the pressure is measured over the flap, the pressure comes out very low rather than high.
The key is to measure the eye pressure on the side of the cornea, outside of the area of the flap. There have been a few such cases reported, so please feel free to print this out and show it to your Mom's doctor.
Another big issue is: why does your mother still need steroids. The only reason to use steroids after LASIK for more than a week is if their is DLK, which is inflammation under the flap. But "flap edema" is not something that has been described in the literature (atleast that I am aware of), so I wonder what is really going on.
Dry eyes, on the other hand, is common. But your description does not make it seem like the dry eyes is the cause.
There are many doctors in Boston that will see second opinion patients, including Dr. Roger Steinert and the Doctors from Mass Eye & Ear.

Please get a second opinion and feel free to ask more questions.

Thank you

Bill Trattler, MD
Miami, FL