The new facts about Lasik

By Dann Halem

Like many people, I hated wearing glasses. I needed them to drive, watch TV, play sports, socialize. But since contacts weren't a comfortable option for me, I was stuck.

So when news of a new "miracle" procedure called LASIK (Laser-Assisted In-Situ Keratomileusis) made countless headlines and magazine covers in 1999, I rustled up the requisite $4,000 and started looking for an ophthalmologist. I did everything right: I ignored discount fliers and bargain surgeries advertised in the paper, and settled on a doctor who'd performed over 1,000 LASIK procedures, at one of Los Angeles' most prestigious hospitals. In just 10 minutes, using a special laser, he corrected the vision in my left eye from 20/200 to 20/15. Results of the correction to my right eye (from 20/300 to 20/40) weren't as satisfying, yet still better than I'd expected. Suddenly, not only could I leave my glasses at home, I could read street signs from three blocks away.

But within a month, something peculiar happened: The vision in my left eye started to change. At first, it only slipped to 20/20. A few months later, it was 20/25. After a year, my left eye had regressed to 20/40, the minimum needed to pass a driver's license test. Two years after I had LASIK surgery, my vision had deteriorated so dramatically that my doctor decided it was time to do a "touch-up."