Summary
American doctors performed about 1.8 million Lasik eye surgeries last year, and that number is up 27 percent from the previous year. But, as the surgeries are becoming among the most popular elective procedures in the nation, complaints are also rolling in. A New York group of patients who have trouble with eye surgeries says about 3 percent of all Lasik procedures result in long-term complications like double vision, dry eyes and reading problems.
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Marketed as a high-tech but simple and glamorous option to glasses, the $2.5 billion Lasik eye surgery industry will be the eye care of choice for a million Americans this year who want to end their astigmatism, nearsightedness or farsightedness.
Editor's note: Improve your vision in just minutes a day -- without glasses, contacts, or potentially dangerous lasik surgery.
Lasik stands for laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis: Surgeons wield a special knife to cut a circular flap in the eye down to the cornea, reshape the cornea with the computer-calibrated laser, then replace the flap.
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.
"I tend to see four to six people a week who have had problems," said Dr. Barrie Soloway, head of vision correction at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary.
New Jersey opthamologist Dr. Joseph Dello Russo said 10% to 15% of patients at his Manhattan office come to see him to repair Lasik surgery performed by other doctors.
Problems are bound to be more common with Lasik's mushrooming popularity in a fiercely competitive market, experts say.
"This is the first time a medical procedure has been advertised to the public in a competitive way, the way you advertise a six-pack of Coke," said Ken Keith, a malpractice lawyer.
About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health researcher, author and award-winning journalist with a mission to teach personal and planetary health to the public He has authored more than 1,800 articles and dozens of reports, guides and interviews on natural health topics, and he is well known as the creator of popular downloadable preparedness programs on financial collapse, emergency food storage, wilderness survival and home defense skills. Adams is a trusted, independent journalist who receives no money or promotional fees whatsoever to write about other companies' products. In 2010, Adams launched TV.NaturalNews.com, a natural health video site featuring videos on holistic health and green living. He's also a veteran of the software technology industry, having founded a personalized mass email software product used to deliver email newsletters to subscribers. Adams is currently the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit, and practices nature photography, Capoeira, martial arts and organic gardening. Known as the 'Health Ranger,' Adams' personal health statistics and mission statements are located at www.HealthRanger.org
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