FDA monitoring Lasik complications

From the AP.

Lasik has been around for about a decade. An estimated 12 million Americans have had the procedure on one or both of their eyes. When it works, people can go without contacts or glasses. Information regarding revision (like a hip prosthesis wearing out) has yet to be determined. There are criteria which have to be met for a patient to be considered eligible for the procedure - pupil diameter, intraocular pressure, no chronic dry eyes, limits on astigmatism and others.

I asked my ophthalmologist if I would be a candidate a few years ago, because I have 20/400 vision without glasses or contacts, he relayed to me that they would have to shave too much off the front of my eye, that I would be at risk of globular rupture and he wouldn't recommend it. That's an extreme example, but I believed him and haven't sought another answer since. But like other procedures that can be "cash on the barrelhead" you can shop around and eventually find someone to do a procedure like this.

Unscrupulous practitioners are one thing. Patient responsibility is another.

"Colin Dorrian was a college student when he was told he wasn't a good Lasik candidate, but went ahead anyway..." and subsequently committed suicide.

I'm not blaming the patient explicitly, as he probably would not have had the procedure done had he known the complications that would have ensued, but if an initial visit with a physician tells you not to go through with a procedure, I'd probably listen to him or her.

"Doctors advise against Lasik for one in four people who seek the surgery, said Dr. Kerry Solomon of the Medical University of South Carolina, who led a review of Lasik's safety for the ASCRS. Their pupils may be too large or corneas too thin or they may have some other condition that can increase the risk of a poor outcome."

Unlike an appendectomy, hip fracture or cardiac catheterization, procedures which usually are needed to help a patient survive or recover from an insult, lasik is a voluntary outpatient cash-generating procedure from individuals who either have the money to pay for it out-of-pocket or insurance to cover such a procedure.

This places patients and physicians at a crossroads of ethics and patient care.

I truly believe the number of patients with terrible side effects with this procedure is a blessedly small number. But, those who have had bad outcomes need to speak up, be examined, have their charts reviewed and see if it can be prevented in future cases.