stereoacuity after lasik

purpose: to evaluate the effect of laser in situ keratomileusis (lasik) on stereoacuity (sa). methods: in this prospective study, 200 patients scheduled for lasik were evaluated for sa preoperatively and one week and one and three months postoperatively by random dot test. patients with preoperative sa worse than 480 sec/arc were excluded. results: patients included 138 female (69%) and 62 male (31%) subjects. spherical equivalent was between -0.5 and -12.0 d. mean preoperative sa was 124.80±124.64 (range 480-15) sec/arc which deteriorated to 138.30±126.48 sec/arc one week after surgery (p= 0.158) and improved to 111.30±112.15 sec/arc (p=0.002) one month and 103.65+112.20 sec/arc (p=0.001) three months postoperatively. patients with anisometropia had lower sa. eventually, sa increased in 5 non-amblyopic anisometropic patients. overall, stereoacuity decreased in 9.5%, increased in 32.5% and remained unchanged in 58% of patients (p=0.007). conclusion: despite the overall improvement in mean sa after lasik, a considerable number of patients experienced decreased sa. it seems that anisometropic patients without amblyopia have a higher chance for improvement in sa.