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Laser Eye Surgery

If you or a member of your family has suffered a personal injury caused by clinical negligence during laser eye surgery, our specialist personal injury lawyers may be able to help you claim compensation. Contact us today on 0800 032 8511 for claim advice, or by completing a claim enquiry form online.

Laser Eye Surgery
How is Laser Eye Surgery Performed
Clinical Negligence
Making a Clinical Negligence Claim
Compensation
Our Personal Injury Lawyers

Laser Eye Surgery

In recent years, laser eye surgery has become an increasingly popular option from those with astigmatism, long sighted or short sighted vision. It can lessen a person’s dependency on glasses or corrective contact lenses and can produce an excellent improvement in their vision when successful.

There are some recognised risks of laser eye surgery however (dryness, some night vision problems), which each patient should be made aware of prior to undergoing any procedure, so that they can give informed consent.

Generally the procedures are performed on a private basis and can be carried out as a day procedure (i.e. the patient will not usually require a stay in hospital), with varying recovery times.

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How is Laser Eye Surgery Performed?

There are several types of laser eye surgery, all based on the same principle of reshaping the cornea to correct vision problems.  They include PRK, LASEK and LASIK.

First, a flap will either be cut in the cornea and lifted or its top layer (epithelium) will be removed.  Then, a laser is used to reshape the underlying part before replacing the flap or removed layer. The cornea is the transparent part of the eye that covers the iris and pupil.

Refractive laser eye surgery is a reasonably simple procedure that is performed without a general anaesthetic and can usually be completed within an hour or so.

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Clinical Negligence

It is not uncommon for laser eye surgery patients to experience some dryness following a procedure and, even in successful cases, a person’s eyesight may not be made perfect. Often, patients will still require glasses for certain activities, such as driving at night.  Many patients also initially experience a 'halo' effect around bright light sources at night, but this usually subsides within a month or two.

This type of outcome would be explained to patients prior to the procedure and would not constitute clinical negligence. If a surgical error causes an injury to the eye however, it should be possible to make a claim for personal injury compensation.

Clinical negligence in a laser eye surgery procedure can have disastrous consequences. If equipment is not set correctly or the surgeon’s technique is incorrect, the damage caused can lead to permanent vision impairment, even blindness.

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Making a Clinical Negligence Claim

The assistance of a specialist lawyer can be invaluable, as making a clinical negligence claim is often complicated. They can collate all of the relevant evidence and the best course of action.

In every case, medical evidence will be required. It is necessary to show that the person you are making a claim against owed you a duty of care, that they breached that duty of care (what is known in law as negligence), and that the resulting problem was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of that negligence.

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Compensation

There are two elements to a compensation award. The first is called general damages and is financial compensation for the pain and suffering you may have gone through and what is known as loss of amenity. This can include an award for your inability to do things after the negligent laser eye surgery that you used to be able to do before, eg, play sports, walk the dog, carry out housework etc. The award for loss of amenity can be for a short period after the medical accident or for ever if that is what the medical evidence supports.

The second element of a compensation award is for your losses and expenses and is known as special damages. It is important to keep receipts for any expenditure you have related to the medical accident, so that these can be reclaimed. The aim is to put you back in a position financially as if the injuries caused by the laser eye surgery had never occurred.

An award in a clinical negligence case is based on the negligent treatment effects that you would not have had if the treatment had been a success. There may be information available on previous awards in similar cases. Very often, clinical negligence cases are settled out of court.

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Our Personal Injury Lawyers

The Legal Line lawyers are experts in all areas of personal injury, with extensive experience in recovering compensation for the victims of clinical negligence, including laser eye surgery negligence. They can provide specialist claim advice, assistance and guidance in helping you to pursue your claim to the best possible outcome.

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