THE SORDID TRUTH ABOUT LASER EYE SURGERY
SE in the News
How Consumer Reports Found Us
June, 1999
FROM THE ARTICLE: Known estimates for the number of new LASIK procedures is 700,000 for 1999 alone. If even 5% experience post-op complications of the variety and degree that we have, 35,000 may experience glare, ghosting, fuziness or loss of contrast sensitivity. Taken as a whole (ALK, PRK, RK, AK, & LASIK), there are predictably hundreds of thousands of individuals with compromised vision.
Fort Worth Weekly
Shattered Eyes, Shattered Lives
February 20, 2003
FROM THE ARTICLE: Those who bother to dig through web-based U.S. Food and Drug Administration transcripts, however, will make a startling discovery: FDA experts put the dissatisfaction numbers much higher. As recently as Aug. 1, 2002, members of the FDA's Ophthalmic Devices Panel put the number of unsatisfied or extremely unsatisfied patients at approximately 10 percent for a variety of laser-based refractive surgeries. They also expect 20 percent, or one person in five, to lose "low contrast acuity" -- that is, they they will be able to see less in dim lighting.
CBS 2 Chicago
Lasik Eyeing
November 20, 2002
FROM THE ARTICLE: Sheree now has distorted vision in her right eye, recurring infections, and constant dryness. "Your eyes are burning. You'll have a gritty itchy feeling, they're painful," said Kodros. And then there's driving. For Sheree daytime is fine but at night it's harder. Night vision problems and dry eyes occur frequently and are usually temporary. But, it's hard to say how often long term Lasik complications happen because the FDA does not track them. But, Illinois Masonic's Dr. Oswaldo Lopez says most complications have one simple cause, "Poor patient selection. I think that's where we have the biggest problem. Poor patient selection.” A thorough pre-operative screening is critical. It should include testing for thin corneas, testing for dry eyes and testing for pupils that are too large. Dr. Mitchell Jackson says it should take time.
Pittsburg Tribune Review
Patients, doctors don’t see eye-to-eye on laser surgery
April 28, 2002
FROM THE ARTICLE: Tears come to Joanne Leslie’s eyes when she talks about how Lasik surgery gave her a new start in life. Stacey Bisceglia wishes he could cry about his Lasik surgery. He suffers from an extreme case of dry eyes.
The Baltimore Sun
A Second Look - Though most Lasik eye surgeries are successful, for some the dream of 20/20 vision has become little more than a blur
March 24, 2002
FROM THE ARTICLE: Every morning Linda Shope makes herself an optical sandwich. She puts in her soft contact lenses, inserts hard contacts on top of them, then dons a pair of tinted eyeglasses. And she still can't see well enough to drive a car or write a check. "I'm hoping I can have a cornea transplant," says Shope, 53, of Waldorf. "What hurts is my whole life has turned upside down."
The Orange County Register
Out of focus - LASIK for vision isn't picture perfect
March 6, 2002
FROM THE ARTICLE: They are the less common results of LASIK that we don't hear or read enough about. Halos that surround lights. Objects that appear in duplicate or triplicate. Eyeballs that feel drier than Death Valley in the middle of summer. .... Two years after she had the surgery, Leslie Woodlock described her vision this way: It's like looking through shattered windows. She sees halos. Shards of light. Triple figures. She said she can no longer play tennis. Watch TV. Work on intricate needlepoint.
Opto and Laser Europe
Studies Shed Light on LASIK Risk
January 25, 2002
FROM THE ARTICLE: Ron Link, the founder of Surgical Eyes - a patient support group for those with LASIK-related complications - says that while he welcomes the change in stance from the AAO, it is "too little, too late". He says that despite the new guidelines, there are still question marks over whether patients will be fully informed by the individual surgeons performing the technique. "I have to ask why this information was not given to the public earlier. In 1999, I testified to the Food and Drug Administration panel with the same message," Link told Optics.org. "Many operations that led to complications could have been prevented, if the AAO had been more aggressive and responded earlier."
WebMD
Studies Shed Light on LASIK Risk
January 24, 2002
FROM THE ARTICLE: It has been just over a year and a half since Paula Cofer had LASIK surgery to correct her nearsightedness, and she says nothing has been the same since. Instead of the improved eyesight she was expecting, the 43-year-old Tampa woman ended up with double and triple vision, chronically dry eyes, and a host of night vision problems that include seeing halos and starbursts. "Everything about my life is different now," she tells WebMD.
Los Angeles Times
Lawsuits Mount for LASIK
January 14, 2002
FROM THE ARTICLE: Sandy Keller had simply wanted to correct her nearsightedness and stop wearing contact lenses when she had laser eye surgery in September 1999. Instead, she ended up suing her surgeon and optometrist, claiming that a botched surgery left her with damage so severe she may eventually need corneal transplants.... Patients unhappy with the results of Lasik surgery are increasingly suing doctors and clinics for compensation, complaining that the procedure actually worsened their vision and, in the most extreme cases, left them legally blind.
Washington Post
Eyes for Sale
September 10, 2001
FROM THE ARTICLE: Common sense dictates that people exercise caution when shopping for elective surgery. But they can't make informed decisions if purveyors of the surgery withhold important information, whether about the procedure itself or about the financial motives of the staff members providing "counseling" on whether to go forward.
Washington Post
Lasik Surgery Sales Tactics Raise Eyebrows
Patient Counselors' Earn Bonuses for Each Customer
September 4, 2001
FROM THE ARTICLE: Ethicists say aggressive sales practices raise questions about consent, disclosure and a consumer's ability to make a fully informed decision, free from sales pressure, about the surgery's risks and benefits. Requiring a nonrefundable deposit before the full presentation of risks "undermines the whole notion of free, voluntary consent," said George Annas, chairman of the Health Law Department at the Boston University School of Public Health.
Washington Post
Eyeball Hardball
September 4, 2001
FROM THE ARTICLE: But with some Lasik customers facing higher pressure to commit during consultation, it's more important than ever to know how to find unbiased, complete information about the procedure's risks and benefits. The process isn't easy or fast, but it's necessary if you intend to approach the procedure with your eyes wide open. The key is to depend as little as possible on sources of information provided by those who have a vested interest in your decision.
Denver Post
La$ik: 20-20 hindsight
Minority emerges to speak out about 'bad outcomes'
September 4, 2001
FROM THE ARTICLE: ...despite assurances that the risks were slight - a complication rate of anywhere from 1 to 5 percent depending on whom you talk to - and that the overwhelming majority of patients are thrilled with their results, McKay began having problems almost immediately. From the day after the surgery, she said, she felt as if she had broken glass in her left eye. As time went on, she could barely see out of that eye, no longer drive at night, and reading a book or watching television had become almost impossible. Even the breeze from a fan hurt her eye. Eight months after her surgery she underwent a complete corneal transplant. It is unclear how much vision she will ever regain.
StraightGoods
Laser Eye Surgery threatens public health care and many patients: Promo never mentions complication rates, much less risk to health system
July 25, 2001
FROM THE ARTICLE: Laser surgery, designed to eliminate the need for glasses or contact lenses by correcting abnormalities of the cornea, has given us a taste of for-profit health care. The result is not pretty. The carefree growth of the laser industry ended last spring when investigators began to report that up to 50% of laser surgery patients experience abnormalities of night vision. It didn't take long before laser horror stories, including reports of patients with major visual impairment, began to hit the press.
Washington Post
For Some Lasik Patients, No More Tears : Researchers Find That Dry Eye Is a Potentially Debilitating Side Effect of Lasik Surgery
July 9, 2001
FROM THE ARTICLE: a study of 48 patients who had Lasik in the past few years suggests that severely dry eyes, which feel chronically irritated, can be a debilitating and long-lasting complication of the popular sur-gery for nearsightedness. The lead in-vestigator of the study, published in the current issue of the journal Ophthalmology, said she believes many surgeons fail to adequately warn patients of this complication -- which, the Food and Drug Administration notes on its Web site, can be pernament.
