If I ask you which is safer: eye surgery or wearing contact lenses - you'd probably pick the latter, right? In an article from WebMD, researchers looked at the complications of the eye surgery called LASIK and compared them to complications of wearing contact lenses. The research will be published in this month's edition of the Archives of Ophthalmology. Gee, guess what the findings were? Bias? You be the judge.
Based on their review of several large studies, ophthalmologist William Mathers, MD, and colleagues concluded that daily contact lens wearers have about a one in 100 chance of developing a serious lens-related eye infection over 30 years of use, and a one in 2,000 chance of suffering significant vision loss as a result. The researchers calculated the risk of significant vision loss due to LASIK surgery to be closer to one in 10,000 cases.The articles goes on to outline the bad habits of contact lens patients - whether it's not making sure your fingers are clean before inserting contacts (prevents infection) or sleeping with your contact lenses in. The big finish to the article is describing the advances in LASIK surgery over the past 15 years.
The bottom line is this. There are people who take good care of their contact lenses, and there are people who do not. Just like there are good surgeons who have low complications and not-so-good surgeons who have more complications. Do your own research before considering surgery or any medical therapy for that matter. That's your Dr. A Health Tip Of The Day. HA!