High altitudes have been known to cause eye problems that don’t happen at regular elevation. A variety of eye issues may be caused by high altitudes in Denver, Colorado. Individuals that live in high altitudes in Denver, Colorado may experience issues wearing extended wear contact lenses, for example. Many eye issues related to high altitudes in Denver are caused by an increased incident of corneal edema. Because of this, some people wonder about the safety of LASIK surgery at high altitudes in Denver. While this is a valid concern, most experts agree that there is no additional risk in having LASIK laser vision correction at high elevations. Because many eye problems in high elevations are caused by corrective lenses, many eye surgeons suggest that having LASIK done in high elevation areas is in fact better for your eyes.
The belief that LASIK isn’t as safe in high elevations comes from the experience of Dr. Beck Weathers. Great notoriety was associated with the deleterious visual changes suffered by Beck Weathers, MD, during his disastrous attempt to climb Mt Everest following bilateral RK surgery. While ascending Mt Everest in 1996, some years after successful RKs, Dr Weathers suffered visual changes that worsened with increasing altitude. Poor vision at approximately 27000 feet rendered him unable to safely ascend or descend. Left alone, he was forced to remain overnight at this altitude until he was finally able to blindly stumble into a high base camp. Although he survived the incident, he lost both hands to frostbite.
He began his ascent of Mt Everest in May 1999. As anticipated, he noted no visual difficulties until staying overnight above approximately 12000 to 15000 feet, where he complained of some decrement in near visual acuity, which was corrected with +2.50 diopter reading glasses. Upon gradual exposure to altitudes above 20000 feet, he also noticed a mild decrease in distant visual acuity. This was slightly annoying but not incapacitating. He tried +3.00 glacier glasses at high altitude, which improved distant visual acuity but caused his eyes to ache when trying to see 10 feet or less in front of him. He chose not to use the lenses because of these difficulties. He was able to summit Mt Everest without correction and experienced only minor visual blurring and glare. It might be prudent for RK climbers to consider the use of plus lenses at altitude and inform their climbing partners of their potential disability.
It’s important to note that this unfortunate incident involved RK rather than LASIK, and that nothing similar has occurred involving LASIK at high altitudes in Denver.