Dr. Edward Boshnick: "Over the years I've had the misfortune of examining hundreds of patients who have lost quality vision and suffered severe depression as a result of LASIK surgery. Two of these patients were so depressed by their post-surgical vision loss that they attempted suicide. In fact, there are several documented cases of post-lasik suicides."
Source: A Few Words About LASIK
Dr. Arthur B. Epstein: “... many of us in the contact lens community have spent untold hours trying to help patients who have had their lives literally destroyed by LASIK.” Source: Review of Optometry, November 2006
OSN Supersite 5/19/2009: Dr. Lawless said his practice has amended its essential clause to include language about the risk of possible psychological damage from an ideal or less-than-ideal refractive surgery procedure in response to last year's U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel meeting on LASIK safety, which examined quality-of-life issues as well as reported psychological damage resulting from poor LASIK outcomes in patients.
We are presenting this information because people, particularly prospective LASIK patients, need to know that LASIK complications may have a profound negative impact on quality of life. If you are experiencing depression or suicidal thoughts after LASIK, please get professional help. If you are in crises and need immediate help, click here, call 1-800-273-8255, or call 911.
If you experienced a bad outcome from LASIK with associated depression or thoughts of suicide, please file a MedWatch report with the FDA.
LASIK suicide reported on petition to stop LASIK - 5/4/2012
"My one and only child committed suicide after 1.5 years of struggle with bad Lasik job. He was only 22. His night vision became very poor. Please have FDA pull this off the market at all cost. How many people have to die?"
Michigan doctor commits suicide after LASIK
"Ashu", a 31-year-old doctor of psychiatry from Michigan, had LASIK in the summer of 2003 and committed suicide on September 15, 2004.
Ashu was a graduate of the University of Michigan medical school with a bright, promising future. He had searched extensively for a surgical fix for his LASIK complications, and he had traveled to see an optometrist who specializes in fitting therapeutic contact lenses.
Young man from Nevada commits suicide after suffering a bad outcome from LASIK
On January 16, 2012, Morris Waxler, former FDA chief of ophthalmic devices, reported the suicide of 28 year-old Vincent Wat of Las Vegas to the FDA commissioner, Margaret Hamburg, M.D., and the director of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Jeffrey Shuren, M.D., J.D.
Several LASIK patients had communicated with Wat under his Internet pseudonym "notsubby" on the LASIK patient forum located at http://www.lasik-flap.com/forum/ where he had expressed thoughts of suicide. Although Wat died on September 2, 2008, the LASIK patient advocacy community was not aware of his death until late 2011. LASIK patients who had communicated with Wat located his friends and a family member, who confirmed the information surrounding his LASIK-related suicide.
Suicide of police officer Larry Campbell reported at FDA hearing by attorney Todd Krouner
Todd Krouner, attorney for the widow of a police officer who committed suicide in March 2008, gave this presentation to the FDA advisory panel, including 3 pages of the suicide note which states:
"DO NOT HAVE LASIK SURGERY! Tell the media!!!"
Link to Todd Krouner's slides on FDA website or click here (see slides 6 through 8).
May 28, 2011: 20/20 Hindsight on Canada's GlobalTV program 16:9 The Bigger Picture features Larry Campbell's story as told by his son.
LASIK suicide connected to Robert Selkin, MD
Patient with burning dry eyes after LASIK commits suicide
From the article: "'He went for a walk and my brother though it was strange because he usually always took his dog with him but he didn't take his dog with him on this walk. He didn't come back, and my brother, obviously feared the worst,' says Roger Pedretti, Robert’s older brother. On that February day four years ago Robert Pedretti ended his life with a blast from his shotgun...
'I was around him all the time and despite reading afterwards the degree to which he was suffering he, I think tried as much as he possibly could to look like his normal self.' But inside, Robert was dealing with a job change, depression, and health problems. 'I didn't know his eyes were burning to the extent because of Lasik eye surgery or his ears were ringing.'
Therapist, Dr. Joel Rooney says that combination, for a man, at that age can be lethal...
Now his family has his memories, and his writings, which have given them insight into his suffering. 'He said it was like a cancer, like a terminal illness that you just couldn't get through and the pain was too much to overcome it he couldn't live that way anymore,' says his brother."
Pennsylvania man found dead at old hospital site
From the article: "While many patients achieve satisfactory outcomes, Dorrian began experiencing debilitating visual aberrations following surgery, such as glare, double-vision or ghosting, blurred vision, halos, and impaired night and low-light vision."
"Gerry Dorian said his son consulted many specialists and closely followed developments in the technology, hoping for a breakthrough that could reverse the damage. Colin took his own life after concluding “that wasn’t going to happen,” Gerry Dorrian said."
"Colin left a message on his computer indicating he would kill himself if he couldn’t get his vision corrected, Gerry Dorrian said."
“There wasn’t anything else going on in Colin’s life that would have driven him to this,” Gerry Dorrian said. “For some people, the outcome of LASIK can be impossible to deal with.”
Video warning of the devastating emotional impact on LASIK disaster victims
Faith A. Hayden. Treating unexplainable pain. EyeWorld, March 2012
From the article: "[LASIK] Patients go to their ophthalmologists, some of them suicidal because of the pain, and their eyes on the slit lamp look perfectly normal," said Perry Rosenthal, M.D., founder, Boston Foundation for Sight. "Doctors send them to a psychiatrist because they think the [patients are] exaggerating. It just adds to the patients' burden." Before you dismiss this patient as a crazy hypochondriac and send her on her way, consider corneal neuropathic disease, an extremely rare condition that causes intense pain along corneal nerves.
EyeWorld, February 2012. Ectasia, topography readings hot topics among military refractive surgeons
From the article: Corneal neuralgia is a newly described disease process refractive surgeons wish was mythological. Lt. Cmdr. John B. Cason, M.D., cornea, external disease, and refractive surgery, Naval Medical Center, San Diego, gave an overview of the symptoms, which many patients find excruciating. "The hallmark of this is how uncomfortable these patients are," he said. "But when you examine them, you don't see anything causing it. These patients are extremely difficult to treat; they keep coming back to your clinic. All the therapies you give them fail, and because of this, many of us think they're making it up." The pain these patients are feeling, however, is very real. Some patients are so uncomfortable and so despondent over failed treatments that they become suicidal. As one patient Dr. Cason had in fellowship said, "I want my eyes taken out or I want to die."
Dr. Edward Boshnick testifies at FDA hearing regarding LASIK complications, depression and suicidality
Beth Kotsovolos speaks on behalf of families affected by post-LASIK depression and suicide
4/25/2008 Diana Zuckerman, PhD, President, National Research Center for Women & Families wants more information about the Emory study of suicide rate among cornea donors (Go to 4:44).
Dr. Zuckerman: "The possibility of a higher suicide rate among [LASIK] patients has been raised and will be raised. More research and really good quality objective scientific research is needed. I tried to get that information. I contacted Emory University but was not able to get better information about that research which, it has not been published."
Patient with post-LASIK ectasia suffers depression and thoughts of suicide, now wearing speciality contact lenses
Patient considers suicide after disastrous monovision LASIK
Excerpt: "My life as a respected Police officer and my hobbies of fishing, scuba diving, surfing, working out at the gym, bicycling and living my life happily are now over and its been all Doom and Gloom for me and I have even considered suicide but a very close and loving friend has kept me from doing this. I would rather go blind and live in pain and anguish than to not see her again. At least that's what I feel today but I came very close a few different nights."
Perils of Lasik: Double Vision, Eye Pain and even a Suicide - Lawyers and Settlements 4/28/2008
From the article: Colin Dorrian was a promising law school student when he sought relief from a chronic dry eye condition by undergoing Lasik laser eye surgery. However, rather than improving his vision and freeing him from his contacts, the procedure left him with so much eye pain and fuzzy vision that after six years, he took his own life... Dorrian, who ended his own life six years after having Lasik surgery, should have been disqualified from having the surgery. His pupils were overly large, and he suffered from extreme dryness of the eyes—two conditions that should have disqualified him from having the procedure. And yet he was cleared for it.
Some link depression, failed lasik. Patients with impaired sight turn suicidal; surgeons reject any connection
The News & Observer 2/3/2008
Sabine Vollmer, Staff Writer
From the article: "Frustration and even sorrow can follow any unsuccessful surgery, but when the procedure leaves a patient with unremitting eye pain or permanently impaired vision, the emotional toll can be particularly severe... Scientists at the Emory Eye Center in Atlanta reviewed suicides among organ donors who had had laser eye surgery. Preliminary results suggested the suicide rate might be four times as high among cornea donors who had had lasik as among cornea donors who had not... Christine Sindt, an optometrist and associate professor of clinical ophthalmology at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, has encountered the psychological effects that patients experience when they have trouble seeing. "Depression is a problem for any patient with a chronic vision problem," she said. But in the case of post-lasik patients, she said, the depression is compounded by remorse. "It's not just that they lose vision," she said. "They paid somebody [who] took their vision away." Sindt specializes in treating ectasia, a bulging of the eye that is considered the most severe and rarest LASIK complication. She sees a few dozen patients with ectasia; all of them show signs of depression, she said."
Severe Eye Pain After LASIK May Lead To Thoughts Of Suicide
From the article: "The cornea is the most powerful pain generator in the human body, said Dr. Rosenthal. The density of corneal pain receptors has been estimated to be 40 times that of dental pulp. He explained that the damaged nerve fibers in the cornea, the sensory fibers, cause all the symptoms, whether or not the initial disease is severe dry eye or corneal neuropathy.
The intensity and constancy of corneal neuralgia can be incapacitating and even induce thoughts of suicide, said Stephen C. Pflugfelder, MD. Dr. Pflugfelder, who is professor of ophthalmology and director of the Ocular Surface Center at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, had a patient with so much corneal neuropathy following LASIK that he begged to have his eyes enucleated."...
"Jayne S. Weiss, MD, professor of ophthalmology and pathology at Kresge Eye Institute in Detroit, recalls such a case. A young man presented to her with excruciating corneal pain and evidence of a healed lamellar keratotomy. “Confocal microscopy revealed abnormal collections of unusually tortuous corneal nerves consistent with corneal neuropathy. Although vision eventually recovered to 20/20, the patient had asked at one point if he could have retrobulbar alcohol injected to dull the pain,” she said."
Source: Miriam Karmel. Addressing the Pain of Corneal Neuropathy. EyeNet, Jul/Aug 2010.
The CORS Survey
From the abstract: A total of 517 responses were submitted. After exclusion criteria, 392 responses were coded resulting in 36 separate subjective complaint categories. 195/392 (50%) responded to the three follow-up questions. 58 subjects reported suicidal ideation as a result of the surgical procedure, and 83% (48/58) of this group were referred to as successes by their surgeon. 115 subjects reported severe depression as a result of the surgical procedure, and 76% (87/115) of this group were referred to as successes by their surgeon.
IS LASIK A CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE? THE RELEASE OF THE CORS SURVEY. Link
Effect of LASIK complications on quality of life reported to the FDA through the MedWatch program
"There seems to be no solution. No one seems to understand the impact that this loss of vision has had on my life. My eye doctor talks as if i should be grateful because using the eye chart i can see around -. 05 in both eyes with a slight astigmatism. However, the crazy images i see have led me to be depressed to the point of considering suicide at times. I have not received a good explanation for why my vision is deteriorating." Read report
"Due to my declining visual ability and debilitating depression, I am on [redacted by FDA], wherein I receive a monthly stipend of [redacted by FDA]. I have attempted suicide more than 5 times since my LASIK." Read report
"Had LASIK eye surgery on [redacted], 2010. Now cannot see to do any of my daily tasks. Near and mid-vision are gone. I only see far away. Was only told I would need readers for the computer. Local doctor can't believe how farsighted they made me. I am preparing to commit suicide after I get me affairs in order for my children. Only those who have gone through this nightmare understand the guilt and shame. You spend thousands of dollars and have no recourse whatsoever when the outcome is bad. It is a great scam for the LASIK centers. Where on earth could you buy a product and then not have any recourse if it does not work??? Please put a stop to this before others die or ruin their lives!!! Please listen to us!!!" Read report
"Bilateral Intralase LASIK performed in [redacted] 2010, using the VISX CustomVue system... Three months post surgery complications - pain in the right eye accompanied by headaches, dry eyes, appearance of many dark floaters, starbursts and halos around bright light sources -in both low and moderate lighting conditions-, reduced contrast sensitivity - reduced ability to see well in low lighting-, induced astigmatism. These conditions result in reduced ability to drive at night, reduced ability to concentrate while on the job, reduced ability to participate in activities and everyday tasks in low light settings; increased sensitivity to bright light, increased depression, increased anxiety." Read report
"My quality of life has been ruined. I no longer can drive, work, and enjoy the things I loved so much, like reading, photography, cooking and so many other things. I am a prisoner in my home and have a hard time doing simple tasks... Therefore, this has not only cause a great hardship for myself, but my family as well... I am hoping you can prevent him from doing this to another patient and ruining another life." Read report
"It has been 21 months since the surgery and my vision is still poor in the both eyes... I tried to get help from lasik plus, but all they could say to me was , we are sorry... If it were not for my strong relationship with Jesus Christ and many Christian brothers and sisters praying for me daily, would have most likely taken my life." Read report
"I feel like my life has been ruined. And the thought of living the rest of my life with this pain is horrible." Read report
"I have not had one happy moment since I started having complications. I am in a severe depression." Read report
"It ruined my vision, and gave me permanent eye pain and dryness... It affects my work, my hobbies, every aspect of my life is pain and difficulty... I never knew depression until lasik." Read report
"My vision has progressed to the point where my left eye is legally blind... This surgery has destroyed my life." Read report
"The immediate effect of my lasik and dry eye was severe depression that endured for three years post-surgery... My mental state required me to make several treatment attempts including medication and therapy. I had no prior history of depression." Read report
"Can you please finally do something about this before more people end up like me, hurt, injured, etc. Some people end up committing suicide... AMA and FDA: are you listening? What happened to ethics and the standard of care? The bar must be raised so that others don't have to experience this hell." Read report
How does the LASIK industry respond to reports of LASIK-related depression and suicide?
In response to reports of LASIK-related suicides, LASIK industry representatives made statements in the media and at an FDA hearing denying any connection between a bad outcome from LASIK and risk of depression or suicide...
“There is simply no scientific basis to support a direct connection between a sub-optimal outcome from eye surgery and suicide.”
Lindstrom, Richard. (2008, March 12) Letter to the News & Observer
“There is no scientific evidence of any direct link between LASIK and the development of depression or suicide.”
Morse M.D., Jennifer (2008, April 25) FDA Special Hearing on Post-LASIK Quality of Life
“There's no cause and effect.”
Schallhorn, Steven C. (2008, February 3) Some link depression, failed LASIK
Study finds link between visual impairment and risk of suicide
Lam BL, Christ SL, Lee DJ, Zheng DD, Arheart KL. Reported visual impairment and risk of suicide: the 1986-1996 national health interview surveys. Arch Ophthalmol. 2008 Jul;126(7):975-80.
Excerpts:
Increased mortality risks also have been noted in adults with visual impairment and disabling eye disease... However, reported visual impairment indirectly increased suicide risk significantly by 5% through poor self-rated health and by 12% through the number of nonocular conditions. The combined indirect effects of reported visual impairment operating jointly through poorer self-rated health and a higher number of reported nonocular conditions increased the risk of suicide significantly by 18%. When we examined the combined indirect effects of the other covariates in the model, only older age produced stronger associations, providing further support for the importance of the indirect effects of visual impairment as a contributor to increased risk of suicide... Up to two-thirds of people who commit suicide have some type of physician contact in their last month, and physician education is effective in reducing suicide rates... In summary, we observed that reported visual impairment increased suicide risk, particularly indirectly via reported health status and health conditions.
Reported cases of post-LASIK depression in the medical literature
Disappointment of patients on antidepressant therapy after excimer laser treatment.
Cataract Refract Surg. 2006 Oct;32(10):1775-6.
Celik L, Kaynak T, Ozerdem A, Kocak N, Kaynak S.
Excerpts:
Case 1
A 46-year-old woman was admitted with complaints of severe dry-eye symptoms, blurred and double vision, halos around objects, and inability to look at oncoming car lights. She had had excimer laser surgery 2 years earlier for myopia, which she said was around −10.00 diopters (D) and −11.50 D in the right and left eyes, respectively... Severe dry eye and visual disturbances due to a mid-dilated pupil were diagnosed. The prescription included frequent instillation of artificial tears and pilocarpine drops 4 times daily. Punctum plugs were also advised, but the patient did not want another ocular procedure. She called the office 4 days later from a psychiatry clinic where she was hospitalized because of intolerable visual disturbances resulting from longstanding pupil dilation. The patient did not return for a follow-up visit.
Case 2
A 34-year-old woman reported dryness of the eyes and visual disturbances after LASIK 11 months earlier. According to her statements, the refraction in her spectacles was approximately −8.00 D and −7.00 D. She was receiving antidepressant therapy with seroxate; one reason she had LASIK was to improve her mood and increase her self-confidence. She reported that the result of the surgery was a “catastrophe,” “worse than anything I could imagine,” and that “life became a burden” for her.
I've reached the end
Originally posted on Dr. Gerald Horn's board at http://www.chicagolasercenter.com
Posted on Wednesday, 23 May 2001, at 8:13 p.m.
Excerpt: I cannot battle this anymore, there is no current and there will be no future hope for me. I am so sad that my life has been stolen from me this way. How did this nightmare happen? Is this real? Did I really do this to myself? How did my eyes end up so screwed?...My pain now is not from my eyes, but from the thoughts of how devasted my family will be from this. I made the biggest mistake of my life, the biggest mistake ANYONE COULD POSSIBLY make. In one instant my life was destroyed and now my family and friends will suffer to. I only hope that they know this is to end my suffering.
LASIK and Quality of Life
"When compared with a hearing-impaired control group, impaired sight alone can acutely affect otherwise psychologically healthy individuals." Source: Psychosomatics, Jul-Aug 1999 Read article
“Functional vision for the normally sighted person is so basic to everyday living that sudden, or even gradual, vision loss can have a devastating impact on quality of life.” Source: Cleveland Clinic website [2009, February 24] Link
Robert Latkany, M.D.: "I have patients from around the world. They’re desperate and crying out for help,” he said. “It’s borderline scary. Numerous times I’ve heard people say they want to commit suicide. To the eye doctor, [dry eye] is just a nuisance [when], in fact, these patients are really suffering.” Source
Tuisku I, Tervo T, Belmonte C.: "It is important to comprehend that these individuals may be suffering from “phantom eye pain,” which does not have a psychiatric or “central pain” etiology. The recent discussion of mental depression up to suicide after LASIK suggests that we need to pay more attention to the pain issue after this therapy and analyze whether this problem is associated with unrealistic expectations, poor results, or development of peripheral neuropathic pain." Source: Letters to the Editor. J Refract Surg. Oct 2008, pg 772.
College baseball player, Trevor Tyre, finds healing after LASIK "depressing" - Dothan Eagle 5/19/2009
From the article: He had the eye surgery in December and had to put in eye drops every day for three months to regain the strength in his eyes. He could see, but not well enough... He saw an eye doctor who recommended the LASIK surgery, but Tyre still wasn’t sure. “I had my disbeliefs,” Tyre said. “Some people say you see halos around car lights and there’s only a 50 percent chance it works. But my doctor assured me that with my young age, it wasn’t as bad as it could be.” “I couldn’t pick up the rotation or spin on the ball,” Tyre said. “It was real depressing."
Atlanta Braves catcher, Brian McCann, vision problems after LASIK - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 5/16/2009
From the article: Dealing with a sense so delicate and wondrous as sight was a little different than trying to shake off a sprain... Since his 2007 Lasik surgery, McCann’s eyes had changed. He didn’t really begin to notice, he said, until the start of this season. But the change was drastic... “Until we got the two eyes equalized, it was not going to be better,” said Alan Kozarsky, the Atlanta ophthalmologist who did the Lasik, and one of several doctors on the case this month... The McCann boys had been taught early by their father to play through most any injury. But this was something else. There was no gutting out this type of problem... “I was more concerned with him mentally,” McCann’s father said. “He was miserable."
Related links
Refractive Surgery Shock Syndrome
Lack of Empathy in Ophthalmology