The first Lasik was done in 1989. Today it is considered to be an established medical procedure with much research to back its efficacy, stability and safety. Millions of cases have been done so far and over a million cases are done around the world every year. In experienced hands and using good equipment, it has a low major complications rate of less than 2%. Lasik is now widely considered by most refractive surgeons around the world as the overall procedure of choice for permanent surgical correction of myopia. Safety is in fact the main reason for choosing the Lasik procedure over others.

The risk of going blind from Lasik is very rare. To date, there has been no reported cases of blindness from the over ten thousand cases done in Singapore. However, there may occur what is termed as "loss of best corrected visual acuity". This means seeing worse after the procedure than before despite the best spectacles or contact lens prescription. Fortunately, this complication usually only affects the ability to read the bottom few lines of the standard vision test charts. Other vision attributes may also be affected (see Q 27).

No. Lasik is carried out as an outpatient procedure and you can go home after the procedure on the same day. Altogether, with the pre-operative preparation, post-operative recovery and evaluation, you should expect to stay a couple of hours.