Most major air carriers do allow their pilots to fly after having refractive surgery, although this was not the case in the early 1990s. For air carrier pilot applicants, the situation is not clear cut. An airline may impose a waiting period of six months or more post-op before it will consider hiring an applicant. The U.S. Supreme Court last year upheld United's ability to require this higher level of qualification, in a case involving the Americans with Disabilities Act . Other complications occur at a rate of about one per 100 eyes, including problems that can lead to corneal scarring.
Irregular astigmatism can occur that decreases vision.
Some patients have severe and persistent dryness of the eyes, which can range from merely annoying to the necessity for the near-continuous use of eye drops. These problems usually clear after a few weeks to months, but some patients' night and dim vision symptoms become permanent. A rare patient suffers visual acuity that continues to fluctuate. With millions of procedures being performed, you can bet that the absolute number of people with refractive surgery horror stories is growing. For those not faint of heart, many of these stories have been collected at a Web site started by one of many with a poor outcome .