So here is some of my story.

I heard a commercial on my car radio about radial keratotomy surgery. I was already familiar with the surgery, having attended a seminar several years earlier. I scheduled an appointment for an eye exam and was given a consent form to take home. The consent form contained two clever falsehoods. No point in going into a description of it as so many of you are so very familiar with the scam.

My surgeon did my eyes one week apart. This was in April of 1995. I phoned a friend in San Antonio and told him I had had the surgery. At the time I thought my side effects were temporary. About a week later my friend told me about his trip to visit his surgeon. He said his surgeon had previously done RK but that he no longer did it because it was clearly obsolete and that the new LASIK procedure would prove to be far safer and better, eventually.

My doctor had told me that he did LASIK surgery in Mexico but that it was unapproved in the United States. He presented RK to me as being a viable alternative to LASIK. I know now that LASIK is a much better procedure. Indeed the whole purpose of LASIK is to avoid the problems of the deep rk incisions. Things can go wrong with either procedure but LASIK is clearly a better procedure.

My doctor like so many others at that time was desperately trying to continue RK surgery because of managed care cut backs for cataract surgery and because he needed money to pay for his very expensive excimer laser. I feel that the ethical thing for my doctor to do was to offer me LASIK surgery or no surgery. I could always wait. First do no harm. I feel that my doctor, like many others at that time was violating his oath as a doctor by continuing to do RK surgery. And I think he knows it.

I experienced the horror that we are familiar with, star burst vision, horrible night vision, headaches, fluctuating vision, bi-nocular imbalance, glare,etc. However I had to endure a symptom that I have not seen mentioned in any of the literature and it was by far my worst problem and it did go away after about two years. I became suicidal and it nearly cost me my life. I lost my ability to focus my vision from near to far without about a thirty minute waiting period. If I read a newspaper I would have to wait for thirty minutes for my distance vision, what there was of it to return. My doctor said I had "eye spasms".

I saw several psychiatrists, was diagnosed with major depression, was nearly hospitalized for depression at one point, eventually took an assortment of the usual anti-depressant drugs.

I am trying to make a long story short. I lost every thing I had in the way of material possessions, car, vcr, golf clubs, as I pawned things to stay alive. I nearly became homeless. At one point it was sort of dramatic as I nearly lost my ability to sit up in a chair. I spent many many long hours curled up in a fetal position alone in my room.

I think it is rather obvious that the refractive surgeons have created a huge population of people who should not drive at night. I feel certain that the doctors are well aware of this.

I think the various state governments confer with opthalmologists to determine what type of test will be used for the driving test. I was easily able to pass the test while looking through the bright scope. Imagine that.

I think the doctors are aware that they are creating a large population of people suffering from depression.

I personally am willing to participate in demonstrations, be arrested, raise hell, whatever it takes to expose the brutal dishonesty of the doctors who have so consistently misrepresented refractive surgery to their patients.