I have been through all of the prelim evals for LASIK. I was considered a candidate up until the surgeon saw a retinal hole. He suggested that I go and see his retinal specialist. I saw him and he said that at some point in my life I must have had a retinal detachment, that reatached itself. I have no side effects and this came as a total surprise. I was one week away from having surgery. My doctor will not perform the surgery in fear that potentially creating the flap may cause too much stress on my retina. They said this is just a fear and they will not do the LASIK procedure on me. They said they could fix and laser up my retina problem, but they still would not recommend LASIK. The doctor did say that this retina problem would not effect the outcome of the success of the LASIK procedure. I need help, should I seek a second LASIK surgeon or is my problem enough to be seriously concerned about and erase LASIK from my head. Thank you in advance.

once again, i can only begin to guess what is really going on without examining your eyes, but here's my advice. whenever i have a patient with some unusual retinal finding, i send them to the retinal specialist to advise me if this is an old finding, or something that may progress. if you feel comfortable with what the retinal surgeon told you, then i would either get a second confirming retinal opinion and/ or find a new lasik surgeon. it's easy to find people willing to operate on you, so it's sort of up to you to make sure that the doctors you are talking to are all saying roughly the same thing and that it makes sense to you.

i have had several patient with retinal holes- old atrophic holes who underwent uneventful lasik. but it's impossible for me to give you the go ahead without really seeing what's going on with you.

good luck
debra tennen, md

Here are a few thoughts

1. Consider PRK. I do not know your level of myopia, but PRK is also a very safe and effective procedure. I am not aware of any studies showing that LASIK can increase the risk of retinal holes and retinal detachments, but this just may be something know one knows at this time
2. Consider a second opinion. Dr. Frank Manning is in Lancaster, PA (Tel: )is a conservative corneal specialist who may be another person who can examine your eyes and help you with your decision as to whether laser eye surgery is available to you.

I hope this is helpful

Bill Trattler, MD
Miami,FL

I appreciate the responses I've received about the feasibility of still receiving Lasik with a retinal hole. For your information, the level of myopia in each eye is 9.5. Does this level add further complication? My corneal thickness was okay in the preliminary evals for Lasik. Thanks again!