Warning: LASIK Is No Good

LASIK (laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis), a popular operation for correcting vision, uses an excimer laser to irrevocably alter the shape of your cornea. Many people are flocking to this procedure, spurred on by the hype about not needing glasses and the misleading claims about safety. Unfortunately, LASIK is far from safe and will result in inevitable eye deterioration as a result of the procedure. As one watchdog group points out, "An estimated 3% of patients — 30,000 people and 60,000 eyes in 2001 — will have lasting complications such as double vision and halos, or starbursts, around lights at night. Some will have dry eyes or won't be able to read easily."¹ Says Dr. Mercola, “The bottom line is that laser eye surgery (LASIK) does absolutely nothing to treat the cause of your vision loss, and is 100-percent guaranteed to make your vision worse over time. Please trust me on this one, as I am convinced that it is true.”² [Emphasis supplied.]

More negative reactions: "while the procedure is quick in itself, it is likely to lead to at least six months of impaired vision and significant discomfort, at the end of which only one eye may have normal sight. (And if the first eye does not heal to expectation, the second operation on the other eye will never be done and the imbalance will be permanent.)

"Then there are the surgical disasters that can happen. You can visit Vision Surgery Rehab Network to review some of the horror stories. The site is devoted to focusing attention on the unique problems faced by those who have undergone unsuccessful LASIK (and other eye) surgeries."²

The moral of this is simple. Always think before you act on a major medical decision like surgery. Go to Google and simply enter a search such as "LASIK dangers" and evaluate the search results yourself for validity and veracity and whether you trust the source. Remember, people doing LASIK are motivated by significant financial interests and will spin information to point out only the advantages. (LASIK is the most popular elective surgery in the U.S. and a 2.5 billion-a-year industry!) Think for yourself. Be smart. Be healthy.

1. Susan Ferraro. Patients are Blindsided By Dangers of Lasik Surgery: Thousands Suffer Lasting Eye Damage after Procedure. (Accessed August 12, 2008.)
2. Joseph Mercola, M.D. 2008. The Dangers of LASIK Surgery: Why You Want to Avoid This Like the Plague. Accessed August 12, 2008.) Subscribe to Dr. Mercola’s Health Newsletter.