Evaluating the Impacts of Lasik on Patients

...

how many?

period of time too.

not clear? these words clash!

An increase in the risk of eye infections is the third major disadvantage of LASIK. Although there is not enough evidence nowadays to support that LASIK and postoperative eye infections are directly related, there are quite a great deal of case studies showing that the relationship seems to exist. For example, a study reports that fifteen eyes of thirteen subjects who had undergone LASIK before developed keratitis (Karp et al., 2003), which means the inflammation of cornea. Indeed, the number of cases is quite high in just a small sample size this time. The reason of this impact is

less convincing evidence in this paragraph. The first study seems to be small, the second is not summarised well - how many patients were in this study? Do not over- generalise study results.

patients had experienced disturbances like halo and glare especially a month after undergoing LASIK and the disturbances then decreased in the subsequent postoperative periods. Also, using the data given by the same study, the size of halo observed by the eyes of patients after six months had not yet reached the same size in the preoperative period. These show that the impact does not last just half a year, but even longer time. Accordingly, these studies suggest that LASIK can also trigger a decrease in visual quality owing to night vision disturbances. Patients may suffer from it for a long

the evidence here seems to be important - loss of night vision, but the research studies are not very convincing - what was the sample size (i.e. number of patients) in each study? were there any patients who did NOT report a loss of night vision??

how many? size of study?

better and more convincing evidence here

believed to be owing to the lamellar flap created; thereby inducing a permanent entrance in the periphery of cornea for pathogens to pass through (Vieira, Pereira & De Freitas, 2008). Again, this can be a far-reaching impact with reference to another study (Varssano et al., 2009). It reports four cases of corneal ulcer that were all developed exactly five years after LASIK. Hence, the examples shown above seem to show that there is really a relationship between LASIK and eye infections even

in the long term. It is claimed that LASIK probably increases the risk of eye infections.

more needed here - I can see that corneal ulcer is a serious condition, but five cases is a small number..

This essay has evaluated the impacts of LASIK on patients. While there is evidence showing

that LASIK can be a safe and quick rehabilitation process that can treat different levels of myopia or

hyperopia, there are some negative impacts brought such as chronic dry eye, regression, a decrease in

the visual quality and an increase in the risk of eye infections. Some of the studies above reveal that

the serious negative impacts can be found even more than five years after undergoing LASIK. These

long-term severe impacts outweigh the short-term benefits to a large extent. Therefore, it is

recommended that the possible negative influences should be told to patients who want to undergo

the surgery by leaflets or medical TV programmes. This can let them think twice before they decide

to undergo the surgery. Also, further studies regarding the risks of eye infections could contribute to attempts to discover the underlying root of the problem. Follow-up measures can be done

afterwards. This makes LASIK surgery become safer. vocabulary (Word Count: 1191)

This essay starts well and maintains a fairly good structure throughout. Topic sentences are mostly handled well. The introduction is good and the conclusion follows the moves expected in an academic essay. Some research studies are used well in the body paragraphs, for example by reporting the number of patients, summarising the results with numbers and claims, but the main paragraphs reporting the negatives of LASIK require more evidence. This is important as the thesis is that LASIK has dangers - the evidence presented needs to be convincing. The age of some sources is questionable, even though this essay was written in 2014, some of the references are too old.

Citation is handled well overall, but the phrases 'from the results' and 'from the conclusion' are unusual and could be re-written. The reference list is presented accurately.

References