Eye Articles

LASIK seemed like a miracle—until it started ruining lives. Chronic pain, vision loss, even suicide… and the FDA stays silent. Today, I’m joined by Dr. Cynthia MacKay, a Columbia eye surgeon whose colleague invented LASIK. She’s been warning people for years—and now she’s exposing the truth in her book The Unsightly Truth and doc Broken Eyes. I had LASIK 10 years ago… and after this convo, I’m not sure it went as well as I thought.

Explanation of risks, side effects, and consequences.

Physician Michael Brouwer elected to undergo LASIK eye surgery. After the surgery he suffered so much pain that he didn’t not know how to continue living. It felt like his eyes were constantly being stabbed with a knife. Eventually, he was diagnosed with corneal neuropathic pain, a disabling complication of LASIK for which he was not warned.

A 2023 prospective study by academic researchers found that 11% of LASIK and PRK patients develop persistent ocular (eye) pain. Source: Betz et al. Ocular pain after refractive surgery: interim analysis of frequency and risk factors. Ophthalmology.

For years the media has reported that LASIK may not be as safe as advertised based on the many patients LASIK has left injured, disabled, or even dead. Before you get LASIK, get the whole story. The real rate of poor outcomes is about 20%

Experts stress that anyone considering LASIK should thoroughly discuss the benefits and risks with a health care professional.

By Daryl Austin

When patient activist Paula Cofer of Tampa, Florida, learned that LASIK surgeries, laser eye surgery that corrects vision, were soaring during the pandemic, she was disappointed, but not surprised. “The LASIK industry depends heavily on advertising and their latest marketing gimmick has been targeting people frustrated with foggy eyeglasses while wearing a mask,” she said.

Whether she likes it or not, the strategy seems to be working.

Recent data from the Refractive Surgery Council, an association of vision correction experts, said that while some ophthalmology subspecialties have struggled to attract patients to elective procedures during the pandemic, “refractive surgery has proven to be an exception.” Indeed, the same report said the industry has “benefitted from a kick start during the COVID-19 era,” with laser vision correction procedures such as LASIK and PRK “flourishing,” and 2021 shaping up to be the industry’s most profitable year since 2015.

Most people have no idea why color vision is essential. Wouldn’t we get around just as well if we saw the world in black and white? The answer is color vision enables you to distinguish an object from its background more easily.

If your eyes saw only black and white, you could only pick out an object if it was whiter (“brighter”) or blacker (“darker”) than its background. However, if you also use color as a clue, you can recognize an object against a backdrop even if both have the same brightness. It is much easier to recognize and avoid shooting a fellow hunter if he is dressed in red or orange rather than the forest’s green or brown background.

Blue-yellow color vision deficiency exists, but it is extremely rare. Most people with a color vision deficiency – ninety-nine percent – have red-green color blindness. They have difficulty distinguishing between shades of red, orange, yellow, brown, and green. They see these colors as duller than they would appear to someone with normal color vision. Some of them confuse reds with black. Others have trouble distinguishing between shades of purple. Some have problems seeing red apples on a green tree.