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Colin, committed suicide 6 years after his LASIK surgery left him with severe, painful dry eye as well as vision problems including starbursts, halos, ghosting, triple images, and loss of contrast sensitivity. Below is an excerpt from Colin's suicide note, so you can hear how he felt in his own words:
If I can't get my eyes fixed, I'm going to kill myself. At the time of this writing, I've lived for six and a half years like this, and it drives me more and more crazy every single day. For a while, I coped fairly well, and have gone forward with things I had to do, but this problem has kept me from enjoying life the way I used to. Every single thing I look at, more or less throughout the entire day, looks ugly and confusing to me.
I just cannot accept the fact that I'm supposed to live like this. It may not make much sense to someone who's not experienced these symptoms, but I'm rotting from the inside out. I have other problems like most people do, in fact I might tend towards the depressive side naturally, who knows. But this is something else. As soon as my eyes went bad, I fell into a deeper depression than I'd ever experienced, and I never really came out. I could get down about things before, but I always had my health to rely on. Without that, just getting by is not enough.
I can't continue living without my responsibility, my esteem, and my happiness. There's nothing at all ennobling or enlightening about suffering. The more I live with this problem, the more it will warp me, and the more hateful and bitter I'll become. I refuse to picture myself starting a family that I won't be able to enjoy and love, because one mistake has so damaged me mentally and physically.
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The most important thing you can do if you are considering LASIK is make sure that you are going into the procedure with realistic expectations. If you will not be satisfied with anything less than perfect vision, the procedure is probably not right for you.
It is also important to keep in mind that your eyes will continue to change as you age, especially if you are under the age of 40. Even with LASIK surgery, sometime between 40-50 years of age you will begin to develop presbyopia and will require glasses for reading and other close work.
Speak with your eye doctor and surgeon to find out more about the risks and potential complications of LASIK surgery. Your eye care professionals can help you determine if you are a good candidate.