Federal Health Officials Reconsider LASIK Warnings

"Lay your head back." The doctor said as he dripped some numbing drops into my eye. Then it was time for the injection. The needle looked about 6 inches long as it came towards my eye. He told me to look up as far as I could and then slowly began to push the needle in right below my right eye. I could feel pressure as the burning liquid went in and then everything went black for a few minutes. I wasn't sure if I was going to get my sight back or not. But the procedure was necessary to fix a problem with my retina so I wouldn't go blind. Then the nurse led me into another room and told me to sit down on a chair. In front of the chair was what looked like a huge gun. The doctor came in and sat down in front of me and had me put my head into a stirrup that was attached to the machine. He turned on a blinding light and began firing. The laser blasts felt like a tiny white-hot needles going into the back of my eye. I would have three more of these treatments before the retina was fixed. A few months later I had to have a cataract removed from the same eye.

So needless to say I am certainly no stranger to eye surgery. At one point I considered having LASIK to correct my nearsightedness, but was told that because of my prior surgeries I wouldn't have been a very good candidate. I thought about going ahead and having it anyway, but then reconsidered. I have worn glasses all of my life and it sure would have been nice to not have to wear them anymore and you see ads all of the time where people who rely heavily on their vision like Tiger Woods have had the procedure done. But one thing that kind of concerned me was that my cataract surgeon, who is a very respected doctor who also does a lot of LASIK, still wears glasses. What does he know that the rest of us don't?

Now, according to CNN, (www.cnn.com) congress is looking into a lot of complaints from people who have had the surgery and the legislators may consider changing the warnings about it. It seems that about 5 % of people who have the LASIK have serious problems afterwards, everything from severe cases of dry eyes to blurriness and poor vision, to severe and constant pain. Some have even had thoughts of suicide. About 7.6 million Americans have had the surgery where doctors cut a flap in the cornea and then use a laser to reshape it and focus the vision. But about 1 in 4 patients are advised against the surgery because of problems with the cornea or other eye problems.

Because the procedure is quick and usually painless and doctors are making a lot of money off of it, (some $2000 per eye) some members of congress believe that the patients should be examined a little more closely to make sure that they qualify.