Eye surgery/lasik patient commits suicide after suffering through complications

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WhatInThe

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A 26 year old police officer committed suicide after experiencing severe side effects/complications from lasik eye surgery. Included head aches and vision problems and was unable to focus on things.

Penn Hills police officer died by suicide after complications from Lasik eye surgery, parents say

I don't know if underlying mental health issue but lasik is optional surgery and comes with risk. I know people who had floaters and night vision issues permanently after. Many get it because they don't want to deal with glasses or contacts but sometimes something like putting on eye glasses everyday is not that big a deal.

RIP
 

Since it was optional surgery I'm wondering he really regretting the surgery in the first place. He regretted the choice as much as the complications. He was probably pondering what if he didn't get the surgery 24/7 by the time he took himself out.
 
WhatInThe said:
I don't know if underlying mental health issue but lasik is optional surgery and comes with risk. I
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Parents say no. in the article you linked:
""People are going to watch this and say it's mental health. This wasn't mental health," Tim Kingerski said. "It had nothing to do with mental health, so they are free to judge and say whatever they want to say. I know that my son before his surgery and after his surgery were two completely different people.""
 
I saw this and remembered this meteorologist who killed herself after the surgery in 2018. Jessica Starr, a beautiful mother of two with a career on TV. She had everything to live for. She said the pain was horrible and there was nothing they could do for her.

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I visited a Lasik surgeon long ago and he said my eyes were so bad that I would still need "some correction" after the surgery. I decided against it since I was still going to need glasses-- I can always wear my contacts when I want to look my best.

I'm so glad now that I didn't get it done. My eye doctor says she sees all sorts of problems in later years from the surgery.
 
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My friend decided to have it. She said she only had herself to blame for her awful vision now.
I remember back many years ago, Russians were wondering around in the streets of Moscow after free surgeries.
 
papa tiger said:
My friend decided to have it. She said she only had herself to blame for her awful vision now.
I remember back many years ago, Russians were wondering around in the streets of Moscow after free surgeries.
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I'm curious. If there are such side-effects, wouldn't, shouldn't, the medical profession have backup solutions in place?
 
I had the surgery about 25 years ago. My vision was 20/400 at the time. I had mono vision surgery, which adjusted my right eye for distance and my left for reading. I’ve had 20/20 vision since with no problems. I guess I’ve been fortunate.

I’m so sorry for this young man and his family. Losing a loved one to suicide is devastating. It isn’t my place to say that’s not a reason to kill yourself. Suicide is as individual as the person.

Rest well, young man and may your family find some measure of peace.
 
WhatInThe said:
A 26 year old police officer committed suicide after experiencing severe side effects/complications from lasik eye surgery. Included head aches and vision problems and was unable to focus on things.
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WhatInThe said:
I don't know if underlying mental health issue but lasik is optional surgery and comes with risk. I know people who had floaters and night vision issues permanently after. Many get it because they don't want to deal with glasses or contacts but sometimes something like putting on eye glasses everyday is not that big a deal.

RIP
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Because I'm a sad old man, I watched a few videos the other day of "Cosmetic Surgeries that went wrong".

Any surgery has risks associated with it. These tend to be brushed under the carpet when the hard sell comes. However small the risk, it's still real.

Sadly, for this guy, tragedy prevailed. It's sad, but at the same time we should remember he took what amounts to cosmetic surgery that was completely optional. He took the risk, and paid the ultimate price.

I do want to address "floaters". When I was a very young kid (I'm talking four or five years of age) I was shot in the eye by a pellet gun. It tore the retina, and for a while I was blind on one eye. Long story short, I went to hospital and spent a lot of time there, and they fixed me up just fine with no loss of sight. However, I have tons of so called "floaters" in that eye. I've lived with them all this time.

Sometimes floaters can be troublesome. But my reality is that I'm only aware of them when I'm thinking about them, you know? In day to day life I don't think about them, even though they're there. It can be a problem when I'm trying to sleep, because you know, they hang there in the infatuate space behind my eyelids. I solve this problem by wearing a face mask to bed. (Yup, that wasn't Zorro coming into the room.)

If you only got floaters later in life, I suppose they must seem to be very annoying, but you do adjust.
 
Lasik surgery merely reshapes the outer cornea of the eye. Even if there was a gross error, it could be corrected with glasses or contacts. I'm skeptical that their son told his parents the true reason of his suicide. BTW, cops commiting suicide is about 200/year, which gives then a fairly high rate.
 
'Everyone has different problems when it comes to Lasik,' Edward Boshnick, a Miami-based eye doctor, told The New York Post.‘
No, no we don’t all have problems.

I think the problem is lack of proper training and experience. It’s the same with cosmetic surgery. When it comes to medical procedures, cheapest is never the best.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
Lasik surgery merely reshapes the outer cornea of the eye. Even if there was a gross error, it could be corrected with glasses or contacts. I'm skeptical that their son told his parents the true reason of his suicide. BTW, cops commiting suicide is about 200/year, which gives then a fairly high rate.
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The problems these people were having were not correctable with glasses.
 
Per nih.gov.:
From 2007 to 2018, approximately 8,230,000 LASIK procedures were performed in the United States. Given that, the incidence rate of completed suicide and PDS in the US is estimated to be 7 per 100,000,000 individuals and 4 per 10,000,000 individuals undergoing LRS per annum, respectively.
LRS is Lens Replacement Surgery, which is invasive eye surgery, and LASIK is not.
 
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It happens even small things that go wrong are a issue for the patient. My co-worker had done and only worked on one eye the other is blurry and he has ticks in it now. they suggested he get glasses which was the whole point he risked the surgery to NOT wear glasses ....
It annoys him but not to the point of this... I find it awful that some have a bad experience ...

Perhaps the risk is like many other surgeries depends on the surgeon and training ?
 

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