Night Driving Performance: Advantage ICLs over PRK

People considering LASIK may have heard about the possibility of night vision effects, such as halos, star bursts, and other visual artifacts. Impaired night vision is one of the most common complaints people have about LASIK and other refractive surgery procedures. Now, a study has confirmed that another vision correction option gives potentially better night vision results than one type of refractive laser surgery.

A study published in the May 2010 Journal of Refractive Surgery showed that phakic IOLs, sometimes called implantable contact lenses, gave better night vision for driving than PRK.

The study put 42 individuals (20 who had Visian ICLs (Implantable Collamer Lenses) and 22 who had PRK) in driving simulators before and after surgery and compared their preoperative and postoperative recognition and reaction times for street signs and hazards. ICL patients had significantly better improvement in recognizing road and business signs and pedestrian hazards in glare free conditions. In conditions with glare, ICL patients only had significantly better reaction times for pedestrian hazards. The study showed that, overall, patients saw a better than half-second improvement in their reaction times after ICL surgery than before.

Although the study results are significant, one wonders why the researchers decided to compare PRK with ICL rather than LASIK.

To learn more about the full range of vision correction options, please contact the LASIK directory for more information.