How likely is it for a flap to move several months after lasik eye surgery?

It is extremely unlikely for the flap to move several months after LASIK surgery, but it is possible to dislodge it with severe trauma. In the last 15 years and about 50,000 LASIK cases we have only seen a small handful of cases with late flap dislocation. These were almost always the result of severe trauma such as a tree branch directly contacting the cornea, and would have caused some degree of injury. Fortunately, we have been able to repair these cases successfully with little or not permanent loss of vision.

It is for this reason that the military and some law enforcement branches had required PRK or surface treatment rather than LASIK due to potential combat situation. It is an indication of how rare these occurrences are that LASIK is now accepted by most all of the categories previously mentioned.

We counsel all LASIK patients to wear eye protection for a minimum of six months, and it is not a bad idea for everyone to do this when there could be damage of the eye. It takes a special kind of trauma to dislodge a well healed LASIK flap, and if the vision does change after a trauma, it is best to have the eye checked right away.