12 Apr LASIK Malpractice: When Vision Complications Cross the Line From Accepted Risk to Legal Accountability
LASIK surgery is one of the most commonly performed elective procedures in the United States, and the vast majority of patients achieve outcomes within the expected range of the procedure. But LASIK complications that produce permanent vision loss, chronic debilitating dry eye, halos, starbursts, double vision, and night vision impairment are also far more common than the procedure’s marketing suggests. Some of those complications result not from the inherent risks of the procedure but from specific failures in patient selection, surgical technique, or post-operative management that constitute malpractice.
Understanding the distinction between an accepted complication that falls within the range of outcomes a properly performed LASIK surgery can produce and a complication that resulted from a departure from the applicable standard of care is the threshold question in every LASIK malpractice evaluation.
Patient Selection Failure as the Most Common LASIK Malpractice Basis
The most common basis for LASIK malpractice claims is not a surgical error during the procedure itself but the decision to perform the procedure on a patient who should not have been a candidate. The contraindications to LASIK surgery are well-established in the medical literature and in FDA guidance: thin corneas that cannot safely accommodate the tissue removal required for the correction, irregular corneal topography suggesting keratoconus or pellucid marginal degeneration, autoimmune conditions that impair healing, severe dry eye that will be worsened by the procedure, and unstable refractive errors that have not been stable for at least one year.
A surgeon who performs LASIK on a patient with any of these contraindications — particularly when the preoperative testing data showed the contraindication and the surgeon proceeded anyway — has made a patient selection error that can support a malpractice claim when the predicted complication materializes.
The Informed Consent Dimension
Even when the surgical technique was within the standard of care, a LASIK malpractice claim may be viable if the patient was not adequately informed of the specific risks applicable to their individual case before consenting to the procedure. Generic LASIK consent forms that disclose standard statistical complication rates satisfy the consent obligation for the average patient but may not satisfy the obligation for a patient whose specific risk factors made certain complications more likely than the statistical average.
A patient with borderline dry eye who was not specifically informed that their pre-existing condition significantly elevated their post-LASIK dry eye risk — and who would not have consented to the procedure if fully informed — has a viable informed consent claim even if the surgical technique was technically adequate.
Expert Requirements and the Damages Case
LASIK malpractice claims require expert testimony from an ophthalmologist with specific LASIK experience who can identify the applicable standard of care for patient selection and surgical technique, explain how the defendant’s conduct departed from that standard, and establish the causal connection between the departure and the patient’s specific complication.
The damages available in a LASIK malpractice case include all medical expenses for treatment of the complications — including corrective procedures, contact lens fitting for patients who can no longer tolerate glasses, and ongoing medication costs. Non-economic damages for permanent vision impairment and the daily functional limitations it produces are frequently the largest component of the total recovery. For patients whose vision loss affects their occupation, lost earning capacity supported by vocational and economic expert testimony is an additional significant damages element.
Understanding Your Options
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s LASIK information resources describe the approved indications and known risks for LASIK surgery under federal regulatory standards. Working with an experienced LASIK malpractice lawyer who understands the patient selection standard of care and who has access to qualified ophthalmological expert witnesses gives LASIK complication victims the specific medical malpractice analysis their cases require.
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Last Updated on April 12, 2026 by Marie Benz MD FAAD