Laser eye surgery carries a known risk of complications such as dry eye, glare, and double vision. And, although they are rare, they do occur.
Now, some women on TikTok say they had complications from two different types of laser eye surgery that led to them needing to use eye drops made from their own blood for relief.
The first is a 24-year-old woman named Dana who calls herself @lifeinrosegold_. Dana shared on a TikTok that went viral that she uses these drops. “I want to show you this crazy drug that I have to carry in this fridge,” she said. “It’s a medicine made from my own blood. Don’t worry, it’s not awful.”
Dana said the drug has to be refrigerated at all times and is made from her blood plasma. She also said that she has to use the drops eight times a day to try to help repair the nerve damage in her eyes. “It feels amazing every time I put it on,” she said. Your reason for sharing? Dana said that she wants to show people “all the things I have to do to keep my eyes from feeling dead.” She ended on this note: “Isn’t it crazy that I actually have drugs made from my own blood?”
The type of eye surgery Dana underwent is called LASIK, but another TikTokker @ loha. amber, real name Amber, said she also has to use eye drops made with her blood after having a bad experience with laser eye surgery, if applicable, PRK. “This is exactly what I have,” she said, responding to Dana’s video. “The sad thing is that I see people in the comments saying that she is a person who has it.”
“I like to describe it as if you have fibromyalgia in your eye,” Amber continued. “My eye is constantly feeling pain.” She later said that she is taking “strong pain relievers”, noting that “the pain is so severe that some have killed themselves with this condition.” The poster says she also has to use drops made from her own blood, which cost “about $ 200 a month.”
“I literally wish every day I could go back to wearing contact lenses and glasses, but I can’t,” she says @ loha. amber. Instead, she hopes to raise awareness about the possible complications of her surgery.
These TikTok stories are alarming and a lot of people in the comments had questions, probably you too. Here’s what you need to know about the risks of laser eye surgery and why eye drops made from your own blood can help.
First, what is laser eye surgery?
You probably have a vague idea of what laser eye surgery involves, but you may not be sure of the details. There are a few different types of laser eye surgery, but the ones mentioned on the TikToks were PRK (photorefractive keratectomy) and LASIK (laser-assisted in situ keratomileuses), both of which aim to improve your vision.
PRK and LASIK are both forms of refractive laser eye surgery, a type of surgery that uses a laser to correct any vision problems caused by what are known as refractive errors, which simply means that your eye does not refract or bend the eye. light properly. Both surgeries reshape the corneal tissue (the transparent outer layer at the front of the eye) in different ways.
During PRK, the top layer of the cornea is completely removed, and then doctors reshape the remaining layers of the cornea with a laser. “PRK is more painful because it removes the entire top layer of the cornea and takes about a week to grow back,” Vivian Shibayama, OD, an optometrist at UCLA Health, tells Health. During LASIK, doctors cut a small flap in the top layer of the cornea, then reshape the remaining layers with a laser through the flap opening, and then close the flap, Shibayama says, making it less painful and able to heal more quickly. .
But because both surgeries involve working on the cornea, which has many nerves, “any surgical procedure or even an abrasion can be very painful,” says Shibayama.
How common are laser eye surgery complications?
Up to 95% of LASIK patients are satisfied with their outcome after surgery, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO). The AAO says that patients can have temporary side effects, including:
- Hazy or blurry vision
- Difficulty with night vision
- Scratchiness, dryness, and other symptoms of dry eye
- Glare, halos, or starbursts around lights
- Light sensitivity
- Discomfort
- Pain
- Small pink or red patches on the white of the eye.
And, says the AAO, side effects can be permanent in a “small number” of patients. But data has shown that a large number of people can have at least some unwanted side effects. A study published in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology studied two separate groups of people who had LASIK: 262 active-duty Navy personnel and 312 civilians. The researchers found that a “substantial portion” of study participants (43% in the first group; 46% in the second group) reported new visual problems after surgery, including dry eye. However, overall, the researchers found that only 1% to 2% of patients were dissatisfied with their results.
Another study followed patients who had LASIK for five years and found that about half of them had dry eyes. That was not all: 20% experienced pain or pain in the eyes, 30% had trouble driving at night, and 40% experienced sensitivity to light after surgery.
Research has found that PRK can cause similar complications. The AAO specifically lists these as potential problems after surgery:
- Glare and halos around lights, particularly at night
- Scarring of the cornea
- Cloudiness of the cornea
- Corneal infection
The AAO also says that some people may experience blindness after surgery. And, although about 90% of people have 20/40 vision or better three months after surgery, it is unclear how many people have long-lasting unwanted side effects after PRK.
Why might someone need to use drops made from their own blood, due to laser eye surgery complications?
These drops have a name: autologous serum eye drops. And yes, they are made with blood from a patient.
Why blood? “There are several growth factors, nutrients, and other components found in our blood serum,” Aaron B. Zimmerman, OD, professor of clinical optometry at the Ohio State University College of Optometry, tells Health.
These nutrients and other ingredients “promote the healing of the epithelium, the superficial layer of the cornea,” says Shibayama. “It has been shown to help with nerve regeneration” in people struggling with eye pain, he says, and it is also used to treat severe cases of dry eye in patients who have not seen relief from other treatments.
“One of the purposes of the autologous tear is to lubricate the eye, although many different artificial tears accomplish this,” says Zimmerman. “The difference from autologous tears is that the nutrients and growth factors further promote ocular surface healing.”
How are these drops made?
In fact, it is very good. First, blood is drawn. “When I order serum tears for a patient, a mobile laboratory approaches the patient to collect the blood,” says Shibayama.
From there, the blood is placed in a centrifuge to separate the different components of the blood. “Serum, a component of blood, is drawn and mixed with saline or other agents like hyaluronic acid to create a therapeutic tear,” says Zimmerman. It is packaged and used as directed by his doctor.
If you are considering LASIK or PRK, doctors recommend knowing the potential risks. “Laser eye surgery is quite safe, but it is surgery and adverse events can occur,” says Zimmerman.
