Giant Eye Pupils Could Put Your Laser Eye Surgery in Jeopardy

Did you ever think that having giant pupils could disqualify you from being eligible for laser eye surgery? Well they might.

The pupil is the opening or hole in the center of the iris that admits light. It’s size changes in direct response to changes in lighting. In bright light conditions, the pupil gets smaller. In poor light conditions, or when it’s dark, the pupil dilates or gets larger. Many people with larger than normal pupils are not even aware of it. If you are highly sensitive to bright lights, this is a good sign that your pupils may be larger than normal.

However, it could also be the case that your enlarged pupil is the result of drug or medication interactions with your body. In this case, the condition is most likely temporary and your pupil under normal conditions could very well be normal in size.

It’s important to recognize the fact that the size of left and right pupils are not necessarily the same. Having said that, under normal lighting conditions the diameter of an average sized pupil is 3 millimeters. The normal range varies from 2 millimeters to 6 millimeters. If you don’t know the size of yours you can find out from your optometrist who will normally measure it’s size during a regular eye exam.

So what exactly is the connection between large pupils and laser eye surgery?

If you have large pupils, some surgeons will be reluctant to ok you as a candidate for laser surgery because of previous documented problems. As with any surgery, there is always the chance that there could be post operative problems. On of the post op problems that those with large pupils have experienced following laser eye surgery is seeing persistent halos when looking at bright objects. You may, for example, see halos around car headlights, street lights, bright living room lights, and so on.

One reason why some surgeons may give you the ok and others will not is the type of laser used. When having laser eye surgery performed, the type of laser used is a MAJOR factor. One laser that has caused more and more surgeons to ok laser surgery for large pupil patients is the Allegretto laser. The Allegretto laser is a laser system that has been used in Europe since the late 1990s. It was cleared for use by the Food and Drug Administration for use in the U.S. in 2003.

The Allegretto laser can reportedly successfully treat pupils with a diameter of up to 6 millimeters. Supposedly it can reduce or eliminate the halo effect that happens when laser surgery is performed on large pupils. If the diameter of your pupil is larger than 6 millimeters, the odds that you will have an error free post op procedure diminishes. Keep in mind, however, that even under the best of circumstances that the success rate for laser surgery is in the high nineties percent range. Not 100%. And even though some doctors using the the Allegretto laser report that they have received far complaints about glare, halos, light sensitivity, and night driving glare – remember, fewer complaints doesn’t equal no complaints.

To be on the safe size, if you think that you have larger than normal pupils, take extra care even beyond what you would normally do to ensure that your post operation results will be just as you imagined it.