So at some point after lasik surgery does the cornea re-attach or can you never rub your eyes again. Lets say a year down the road do you still need to worry about moving the corneal flap?

We have a detailed article about flap healing at http://www.usaeyes.org/faq/subjects/complete.htm. You will see that after about 15-60 days the flap is very well adhered and you are able to rub your eyes, but vigorous rubbing is not wise whether you have had LASIK or not.
BTW, if you are concerned about the LASIK flap, consider instead the Advanced Surface Ablation (ASA) techniques of LASEK or its cousin PRK. There is no flap with these techniques.

Glenn Hagele
Council for Refractive Surgery Quality Assurance
http://www.USAeyes.org
http://www.ComplicatedEyes.org

I am not a doctor.

Dianna,

I recommend against refractive surgery of any kind (LASIK, PRK, LASEK, etc.). Glenn Hagele (who posts a lot here to promote CRSQA marketing services) sells refractive surgery for a living and is physically a perfect candidate but won't have the surgery because he knows that he will never be happy with the results. Follow Hagele's example and don't have RS.

Terri

Who is Hagele's? I don't understand what this implies. Have you had Lasik? Are you not happy with your results? Glenn why haven't you had Lasik?

Terri is one of those anti-refractive surgery/surgeon/industry zealots who posts negative statements in this forum quite often. You will need to wait for her answer as to why she holds this position, as I could only speculate. The following is a standard reply to Terri’s most common accusations:

The Council for Refractive Surgery Quality Assurance (CRSQA, www.USAeyes.org) provides objective and factually substantiated information for patients, promotes complete and accurate communication between doctor and patient, and provides suggestions on how a potential patient may find the best available doctor through our 50 Tough Questions For Your Doctor (http://www.usaeyes.org/faq/tough_questions.htm) and by certification of doctors who meet or exceed our patient outcomes requirements. Details of what is required for CRSQA certification are available at http://www.usaeyes.org/faq/subjects/certified.html. A list of certified doctors is available at http://www.usaeyes.org/surgeons/locate.htm.

I am the Executive Director and founder of CRSQA. CRSQA is a nonprofit, tax-exempt, public benefit corporation that is lead by a 13-member Board of Trustees, which includes ophthalmologists, optometrists, patient advocates, consumer advocates, and other representatives of elements of the refractive surgery industry. There are no shareholders or owners, as a nonprofit’s ownership is held, by law, for the public good.

CRSQA also operates a sister website at www.ComplicatedEyes.org that is devoted to providing information and resources to those unfortunate few who have poor refractive surgery outcomes.

There is no doubt that doctors tout the fact that they have earned our certification in their own marketing – we encourage this – but we do not market refractive surgeons, market for refractive surgeons, or market refractive surgery beyond providing objective information. CRSQA does not provide marketing services to physicians.

Similar to the American Board of Ophthalmology, American Board of Eye Surgeons, and every other certification organization, CRSQA charges fees to doctors for their certification. This is the sole source of our funding. No fee is charged to patients who seek our assistance. We believe that those who financially benefit from refractive surgery are the most appropriate source for financial support of an organization that benefits refractive surgery patients.

I have personally never ever, publicly or privately, told anyone they should have refractive surgery. I have never in the past or present, sold refractive surgery.

I have not personally had refractive surgery because I am a poor candidate. The probability is not very high that I would achieve the excellent 20/10 to 20/15 vision I enjoy with spectacles. It is unreasonable to expect anything better than "normal" 20/20 vision from refractive surgery (even though superior vision does occur) and I know from my experience with contacts that 20/20 would make me 20/UnHappy. Also, at my age I am presbyopic enough that the mechanical advantage for near vision I achieve with glasses reduces my need for bifocals or reading glasses. I am a poor candidate for refractive surgery at this time, and I would hope that anyone in my situation who reads our website would come to the same conclusion and refrain from refractive surgery. Refractive surgery is not appropriate for everybody.

Although detractors may decry our message of cautious optimism regarding refractive surgery, a reasonable person will find that the detractors do not provide evidence that information provided on our website or in my posts is inaccurate.

Glenn Hagele
Council for Refractive Surgery Quality Assurance
http://www.USAeyes.org
http://www.ComplicatedEyes.org

I am not a doctor.

Why does Terri claim that even people that see 20/20 don't claim their vision is as crisp with glasses. I see 20/15 with glasses and contacts. If I am able to get that with LASIK would my vision be as crisp to me as before?

There are no guarantees in refractive surgery. It is, after all, surgery. Even with an astronomically high success rate, it is not perfect. It is possible that your uncorrected and/or corrected vision after refractive surgery will be worse than your current corrected vision, although that is rather rare. It is also unreasonable to expect better than 20/20 uncorrected vision, even if you have 20/15 vision with contacts, and even though it does happen.

You posted a similar question in another thread to which I responded in detail. Visit https://asklasikdocs.com/forum/main/3043.html.

Glenn Hagele
Council for Refractive Surgery Quality Assurance
http://www.USAeyes.org
http://www.ComplicatedEyes.org

I am not a doctor.

For what it is worth I had 20/15 as "best correctable" with contacts and just tested at 20/15 in each eye yesterday at the two year post mark. I can't really say whether there has been any drop in visual acuity or contrast sensitivity but I can say that I haven't noticed any drop whatsoever. I see a slight halo around the moon but I THINK that was the same as with contacts. ( I remember trying to freeze in my mind all the images the night before surgery but as I say, if I can't remember they couldn't have been significant). I was -6.25 -6.50. Age 44.