Lasik Complication Info


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All the legal blah, blah, that you need to take seriously.

Why am I seeing a second image or ghost after refractive surgery?

Ghosts tend to be caused by an irregularity in the cornea, often this is just normal astigmatism.  Astigmatism is when the cornea is not spherical like the top of a ball, but elliptical like the back of a spoon.  Sometimes ghosting is exacerbated by dry eyes.

Astigmatism can cause multiple focal points. The majority of the light focuses on the center of the retina  and this provides the main image.  A small amount of light focuses slightly off the center of the retina providing the ghost image.

Sometimes after refractive surgery pre-existing astigmatism is not fully corrected.  This residual astigmatism can cause ghosting.  Sometimes in refractive surgery astigmatism is induced by creation of the flap or other problems.

Ghosting can also be caused by central islands, wrinkles in the flap (striae), refractive surgery induced irregular astigmatism, epithelial defects, or other very rare complications.

If the problem is regular astigmatism, a pair of glasses made to accommodate the astigmatism may clear up the problem.  You may also find that in a well lit room the ghosts disappear because of reduced pupil size.

An easy test for astigmatism is to put a small hole through an index card then look through that hole with one eye. Be sure to do this in a dimly lit room. As you move the hole around you will probably notice that the ghosting is gone.

Your eye is doing this naturally (looking through a small hole) when you are in a well-lit environment. The pupil is smaller and is not letting the light that is passing through the astigmatic component of your cornea reach the retina. The multiple focal points are still there; they are just not reaching the retina and being “seen”.

It is possible that the astigmatism was induced by refractive surgery but it is also possible the astigmatism was there before and was not corrected during refractive surgery.  Your old corrective lenses would have accommodated any pre-surgery astigmatism.

Check with your doctor to determine the exact nature of your problem. If the ghosting is caused by your remaining astigmatism, ask your doctor about the possibility of an enhancement to eliminate your residual astigmatism. Or just see if a good pair of glasses or contacts do the trick.

Revised: June 28, 2007 


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