RALEIGH, N.C. -- Millions of Americans have undergone laser eye surgery to correct bad vision, and along with the procedure's popularity something else is coming into focus: its hazards.
Advertising stresses the surgery's safety, and most procedures are successful. Tiger Woods, who relies on keen eyesight as the world's best golfer, pitches it as a quick and painless way to restore sharp vision. Even the U.S. Air Force, long skeptical of the surgery, changed its policy last May to let people who had LASIK apply for pilot training.
But every year, thousands of Americans who undergo LASIK are left with chronic pain, dryness of the eyes, distorted night vision and even blindness, according to Food and Drug Administration statistics.
LASIK -- which stands for laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis -- uses lasers to cut and reshape the cornea. It can improve eyesight without complications, but equipment flaws, a surgeon's error or a failure to screen out patients whose eyes are ill-suited for the treatment can cause the operation to go awry.
The American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, which represents about 9,000 ophthalmologists specializing in laser eye surgery, estimates that only 2 percent to 3 percent of the more than 1 million LASIK surgeries each year are unsuccessful. But FDA records of clinical studies show that six months after the surgery, up to 28 percent of patients complained of eye dryness, up to 16 percent had blurry vision and up to 18 percent had difficulty driving at night.
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A Duluth man was awarded $557,500 earlier this year in a malpractice suit against Dr. Jeffrey R. Weis and Northern Refractive Surgery Center of Hermantown for surgery complications.
Lowell Larson had the LASIK procedure on Jan. 4, 2001, at the center. He claimed that, as a direct result of negligent care and treatment, he sustained permanent disturbances in his vision, particularly at night.
He brought the lawsuit in July 2005 after having four other procedures to try to correct the damage.
How many LASIK patients develop post-surgery complications is obscured by a lack of regulation and reporting. Because health insurers don't pay for LASIK, they generally don't track complications.
Medical research in the past three years has come up with insights about LASIK worrisome enough that some eye surgeons have begun to ease away from the procedure.
"We've learned the limitations of LASIK," said Dr. Stephen Pflugfelder, professor of ophthalmology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
In the past three years, the number of LASIK procedures at Baylor has dropped from about 70 percent to about 50 percent of all laser eye surgeries.
All LASIK surgeons make an effort to screen patients, and many turn away patients with obvious risk factors. But LASIK is essentially a buyer-beware procedure.
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In choosing a surgeon, patients usually are advised to go with doctors who perform the procedure most frequently. But that advice can be risky.
"When you're high-volume and relinquish part of the care to non-physicians, you don't have time to be thorough. That can lead to problems," said Dr. Christopher Fleming, an ophthalmologist and former president of the North Carolina Society of Eye Physicians and Surgeons,
