Don Bienfang, M.D, is an assistant professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School and the Senior Surgeon in the Department of Surgery and Chief of Neuro-Ophthalmology in the Department of Neurology at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Question:

I have a question about LASIK surgery. Is it true that you will have 20/20 vision for a few years, but then your vision will start to degenerate?

Answer:

Not exactly.

Most people who have LASIK are myopic (nearsighted). They have good vision up close, but blurry distant vision. Before their surgery, they needed glasses or contact lenses to see well at a distance. They probably chose LASIK so they could see distant objects clearly without having to wear their glasses or contacts.

But all people entering their 40s start to lose the ability to see things up close. I think what you're referring to is that you know a nearsighted person who had LASIK, got rid of the glasses she needed for distant viewing, but later took up reading glasses to see up close. This is perfectly normal, and would have happened even if the person did not have LASIK surgery.