LASIK is so profitable that serious Special Investigative Report on LASIK
Good Morning America 2/25/2010
"... it was just sort of shoved aside as the kind of, we, we don't know what to do with that data... It's right there in the record. The agencies and the refractive surgeons, people know these problems occur."
Make Your Voice Heard!
In response to concerns about LASIK safety and the impact of LASIK complications on quality of life, the FDA reopened a public docket to receive public comments. Tell the FDA about your bad experience with LASIK:
Beware of Glenn Hagele
CRSQA / USAEyes.org
Fake Patient Advocate / Fake LASIK Expert
Glenn Hagele and Council for Refractive Surgery Quality Assurance d/b/a USAEyes.org ("CRSQA/USAEyes") are currently being sued for defamation and unfair and deceptive trade practices.
Read lawsuit
CRSQA (Council for Refractive Surgery Quality Assurance) is a referral service for LASIK surgeons, operated by CYBERBULLY, high school graduate Glenn Hagele out of his home. Despite its pretentious name, CRSQA is just a cynical marketing ploy and patient harassment organization that "certifies" refractive surgeons willing to fork over $7,000 in the first year and $5,000/year thereafter. In exchange, Glenn Hagele provides these surgeons with a bogus seal of approval on his USAEYES.org web site to promote their practices. Don't be fooled by Glenn Hagele's advertising claims - CRSQA's quality "standards" are actually below industry standards.
Read about harassment of damaged LASIK patients: The Glenn Hagele Report
What do LASIK industry leaders have to say about Glenn Hagele, CRSQA, USAEyes, and LASIK surgeon certification scams?: LASIK Industry Leaders' Statements
Read a LASIK patient's opinion of Glenn Hagele and CRSQA / USAEyes.org: What is CRSQA?
Surgeons known to have supported Glenn Hagele's patient harassment organization: Kerry Assil, Jay Bansal, Daniel Beers, Scott Behler, Robert Brems, Stephen Brint, Randy Burks, Andrew Caster, Benjamin Chang, Daniel Durrie, Ella Faktorovich, Raymond Gailitis, Robert Gladsden, Daniel Goldberg, Jack Holladay, Thierry Hufnagel, Joseph King, Kent Kirk, Robert Lin, James Loden, Robert Maloney, James McDonald, Michael Mockovak, Sanford Moretsky, Thomas Planchard, Philip Roholt, Cary Silverman, Swati Singh, Gregory Stainer, Steven Stetson, Mark Volpicelli, David Wallace, Robert Weisenthal, Marc Werner, Norman Zaffater. Source: Lasikfraud.com
As of August, 2008, the board of trustees of this patient harassment organization, CRSQA, USAEyes.org are: Glenn Hagele, Kenneth Hagele, Keith Cross, David Blackman, Houston LASIK surgeon Jack Holladay MD (Chairman), and Sacramento optometrist Robert Buffington OD.
Glenn Hagele claims to have recently founded Cataract Free America. Will he now begin harassing elderly cataract surgery patients who experience a bad outcome?
FDA advisers: Clearer LASIK warnings needed
CNN.com 04/25/2008
From the article: "A panel of medical advisers -- mostly eye doctors wearing glasses -- listened to tales of woe and wonder Friday from people who sought to get rid of their specs through LASIK surgery... Matt Kotsovolos, who worked for the Duke Eye Center when he had a more sophisticated LASIK procedure in 2006, said doctors classify him as a success because he now has 20-20 vision. But he said, "For the last two years I have suffered debilitating and unremitting eye pain... That's a big reason that Weiss, the ophthalmologist, won't get LASIK even though she offers it to her patients. "I can read without my glasses and ... operate without my glasses, and I love that," she said. "The second aspect is I would not tolerate any risk for myself."
LASIK-Flap.com
Documenting the history of the refractive surgery industry, from the cover-ups and conflicts of interest to the kickbacks and the medical studies showing how LASIK damages healthy eyes. LASIK-Flap.com has an active patient bulletin board and informative research forums.
From the bulletin board: "My lasik travesty then began in mid-2003, where, after a lengthy sales pitch and many lies, I was butchered."
Go to LASIK-Flap.com
An Inconvenient Truth - The LASIK Report
The LASIK Report is a literature review of LASIK. The report concludes that LASIK is an inherently harmful procedure and should be abandoned. From the report:
"Early clinical trials did not thoroughly examine adverse effects of LASIK. Since that time, numerous medical studies have examined the risks of LASIK. It is now widely reported in ophthalmic medical journals that complications such as dry eye and visual disturbances in low light are common, and that creation of the corneal flap permanently compromises tensile strength and biomechanical integrity of the cornea."
Lasik's blurry vision - Salon.com 1/25/2010
From the article: Erik J. Rupard, a doctor and clinical researcher with the U.S. Army, is among those who think such scrutiny is necessary... "I saw lots of dry-eye complications in soldiers in Iraq who had undergone the procedure ostensibly because contacts are too unsafe in that dusty environment, and yet the Department of Defense has done no controlled studies to look at the cost -- human and otherwise -- of these post-refractive issues. I am a clinical researcher, and I know that Lasik, a cosmetic procedure, has never been subjected to the pre- or post-marketing scrutiny that we put even lifesaving drugs through."... Some experts believe the FDA should have taken more care when the first lasers were approved in 1998. "We screwed up," said Morris Waxler, a former branch chief of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health Office of Science and Technology from 1995 to 1999... "We should have looked at the worst-case impact on patients, rather than just the very good outcomes we saw in the clinical trials."
Long-term consequences of LASIK
Letter to the Editor: Happy LASIK patients may not realize or acknowledge the harm they suffered from LASIK for years; nonetheless, the damage is there. Medical research demonstrates (a) that the LASIK flap never heals and may be accidentally dislodged for the rest of a patient's lifetime, (b) that the cornea is permanently weakened and may develop ectasia weeks, months, or years later, leading to vision loss, (c) that corneal nerves which stimulate tear production are severed and destroyed during LASIK, and that these nerves never fully recover -- potentially leading to permanent dry eye disease, (d) that having LASIK causes problems in the future for glaucoma screening and cataract surgery -- prompting the FDA to recommend that LASIK patients obtain a copy of their LASIK medical record, (e) persistent decrease in corneal cells (keratocytes) -- it is unknown how this decrease affects long-term viability of the cornea, and (f) that visual quality at night is permanently reduced after LASIK, even when the patient has 20/20 or better daytime vision. To add insult to injury, visual outcomes of LASIK decline over time. "LASIK success" is like saying "the surgery was a success but the patient died".
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