I had my lasik surgery (monovision) done in July, then reinhansment done on my eye left for distance. My eye has pretty much healed without complications and all the test look good. My eye varies between 20/30 and 20/40. My doctor suggest lifting the flap to smooth things out and is thinking I could have some edema or swelling which is preventing my eye to heal to the 20/20 target. I've been assured that this is a simple and pretty safe procedure (with warning that every procedure has its risks). After reading all these horror stories I am quite afraid of letting anyone touch my eyes. Is this a procedure that is done very often and how much of a risk do you feel I am taking. My night vision is pretty bad but other than that I'm doing good. I'm schedule to have this procedure done in a couple of weeks so a quick response would be appreciated.

You already had one enhancement. It sounds like you actually have something relatively serious going on, since your vision can not be corrected to 20/20. Normally with LASIK, you expect the vision to improve as far as the need for glasses, but you also expect that a person will always be able to see 20/20 even if it requires glasses. When a person can not see 20/20 even with glasses, it means that something is going on to prevent optimal vision. This could include flap wrinkles/striae or flap swelling, as weill as epithelial ingrowth.
You should certainly talk with your doctor and try to learn more about your current state. Only then can you know more about whether an additional procedure is necessary.

Best of luck

Bill Trattler, MD
Miami, FL