How dangerous and effective are myopia surgeries?

Myopia surgeries are regarded as failry effective if the myopia is low to 
moderate. 20/20 vision or better is achieved roughly 45 to 80% of the time and 
20/40 vision or better is acheived roughly 76 to 95% of the time according to 
an FDA study (depending on what procedure is used). The All About Vision 
website goes over the FDA study in detail and excerpts are cited here:

"Results of the four most common lasers used to perform LASIK to correct 
myopia. These results are three months after treatment.

The Visx Star 2 was FDA-approved November 19, 1999, for myopia up to -14.0D 
with or without astigmatism of -0.5D to -5.0D:

20/20 or better: 48.1% (434/903) 
20/40 or better: 92.0% (831/903) 
Within 1 diopter of intended refraction: 87.2% (845/969) 

The Alcon Summit Autonomous LADARVision was approved May 9, 2000, for myopia up 
to -9.0D with or without astigmatism of -0.5D to -3.0D:

20/20 or better: 65.2% (103/158) 
20/40 or better: 94.3% (149/158) 
Within 1 diopter of intended refraction: 93.4% (156/167) 

The Nidek EC5000 was approved April 14, 2000, for myopia of -1.0 to -14.0D with 
or without astigmatism less than -4.0D:

20/20 or better: 42.0% (396/943) 
20/40 or better: 76.8% (724/943) 
Within 1 diopter of intended refraction: 77.6% (733/944) 

The Bausch & Lomb Technolas 217 was approved February 23, 2000, for myopia of -
1.0D to -7.0D with or without astigmatism less than -3.0D:

20/20 or better: 84.8% (307/362) 
20/40 or better: 99.4% (360/362) 
Within 1 diopter of intended refraction: 97.3% (367/377)"
http://www.allaboutvision.com/visionsurgery/outcomes.htm

As to how dangerous, all surgeries do have their chance of unwanted side 
effects. All About Vision continues with a listing of possible side 
effects: "Halos and glare from bright lights at night, pain, starbursts, 
blurred vision, night vision problems, infection, dryness, and itchiness are 
the main complications that patients have reported after vision correction 
surgery." The good news is that these side effects are rare with most patients 
and are usually temporary and very much treatable. An interesting statistic is 
that less than 1% of those undergoing vision correction faced vision-reducing 
complication and that there have been no cases of blindness. This again is 
according to several studies none of which claim to be fully exhaustive or 
completely conclusive.
http://www.allaboutvision.com/visionsurgery/outcomes.htm


Additional information:

Myopia - Description (All About Vision)
http://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/myopia.htm

Bausch & Lomb: Potential Side Effects
http://www.bausch.com/us/vision/concerns/surgery/side_effects.jsp

Eyetech Lasik: Potential Risks and Side Effects
http://www.eyetechlasik.com/potential_risks_and_side_effects_lasik_and_prk_laser
_eye_surgery.htm

Lasik Eye Surgery (Health A to Z)
http://www.healthatoz.com/atoz/TestProcedures/TPLasik.html

History of Lasik (Goodman Eye Institute)
http://www.goodmaneye.com/background.html

FDA: Laser Eye Surgery: Is It Worth It? by Carol Lewis
http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/1998/498_eye.html

I did a quick search with google: myopia surgery side effects

://www.google.com/search?
sourceid=navclient&querytime=kAI&q=myopia+surgery+by%2Deffects

You could also search for words like "effectiveness" if you wish.

I found an article in the FDA consumer magazine of 1998. A problem here could 
be that the technogy has improved much since then, so results are expected to 
be better nowadays. I consider them not biased as consumer representatives.

the URL: http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/1998/498_eye.html

2 personal experiences: 
- I have worked for 4 months in an Eye Hospital as a librarian and worked with 
eye-surgeons and talked to them and asked them questions. So I saw the 
operating rooms and the way they work.
- A collegue of mine had recent laser surgery in a private clinic in Belgium 
and had both eyes treated in one session and is quite satisfied. She had thick 
glasses and now she wears none.

I believe that the dangers are much less than with common cataract surgery,
because it is hardly invasive.
Most or all surgery now consist of using a laser to "flatten" the cornea at the 
lens. Computer controlled.

For more info, ask your local hospital or eye-clinic.

I know that the Rotterdam Eye Hospital answers question on line:

http://www.oogziekenhuis.nl/    (Everything in Dutch)

Names for the procedure - machines  Excimer, LASIK, maybe more.

I forgot to mention the other way.

Remove the cornea at the lens partially. Make a flap. Then flatten the lens (in 
case of myopia) then replace the cornea flap. Let it heal.

The procedure used for my collegue must have been PRK:

http://www.prk.com/whatisPRK.html   nice description there, also about 
effectiveness and problems.

http://www.allaboutvision.com/visionsurgery/

"A description of laser eye surgery, how to choose a LASIK surgeon, options 
for financing laser eye surgery, and LASIK problems, results and outcomes"

This seems to answer most questions about laser eye surgery - and up to date 
too (copyright 2002) I used the search phrase "laser eye surgery problems" in 
Google.

For a very thorough discussion of lasik side-effects (and some of them are 
truly horrible -- how about eyes so dry that you have to put drops in them 
every few minutes, for the rest of your life?), see http://surgicaleyes.com/

A good discussion of different surgical vision correction techniques is at 
http://faculty.washington.edu/vismatt/eyeknowwhy/ at the "I Know Why Refractive 
Surgeons Wear Glasses" web site.