Thirty-one-year-old Ian Williams has considered himself the nerd behind the coke-bottle lenses ever since third grade when he first started wearing corrective lenses. Despite years of prescription changes and the cumbersome tracking of eyewear, when presented with the possibility of ridding himself forever of corrective lenses through LASIK, a form of laser eye surgery, Williams insisted, ôI wanted to find the right doctor. I wasnÆt going to have somebody slice my eyes open without checking him out,ö (Bidwell 1999, 2).
Individuals who require some form of corrective lenses suffer from a visual impairment known as refractive error, meaning they suffer from one of four impairments: myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, and presbyopia. In the early 1970s, a procedure known as radial keratotomy was created. Radial keratotomy is a surgical procedure for correcting refractive error. Technological advances enabled the advent of laser surgery to correct refractive error over the past decade. The most promising and most popular form of laser refractive repair is a process known as ôlaser in situ keratomileusisö, more commonly known by the acronym LASIK, (Bidwell 1999, 2).
LASIK made headlines after a variety of famous patients like Cindy Crawford, Courtney Cox, and athletes like pitcher Greg Maddux. When Maddux took the mound to start for the Braves only two days after undergoing LASIK, without corrective lenses, the procedure increased in popularity. LASIK surgery is restoring accurate unaided vision to millions of Americans. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves LASIK surgery for myopia and astigmatism, which appear to be the two refractive errors it is most effective in correcting. Since the FDA approved the excimer laser used during LASIK, more than 2.6 million people have chosen to undergo the procedure, (Braham 2002, 1). The procedure has restored 20-20 vision in the majority of those undergoing it, at a cost o...