The 1998 surgery ablated a corneal diameter much narrower than my dark-adapted pupils, causing the following higher order aberrations (HOA).   It took years for me to decipher this.  No aberration was improved with the two "enhancement" surgeries my doctors recommended in 1999.  In representations directly below, magnitudes (of my vision/perception) were accurate in 2012, but have since slowly worsened. 

Pre-Surgery History

At age 10, I developed increasing myopia and regular astigmatism, stabilizing around age 28.  Four years later...

Pre-operative prescription (September 1998):

OD: -8.50D spherical, -2.50D cylindrical
OS: -8.00D spherical, -2.25D cylindrical
With corrective lenses (glasses or contacts) I had roughly 20/25 of clear vision in both eyes, and zero visual problems.
In dark conditions, my pupils widen to 9mm, but no professional warned me of this LASIK contra-indication.

Surgeries

At age 32, after years of research, and several inquiries with consulting optometrists in Pasadena and Manhattan Beach, I chose to have LASIK on both eyes.

Surgery #1:

Performed: Friday, October 2, 1998 9:00am (Both eyes)
Surgeon: Dr. Douglas Steel and Advanced Sight Medical Group, Los Angeles, California
Laser: Summit.  A 5mm ablation zone was used, on my 9mm pupils.
Goal: Routine LASIK procedure to correct vision, and to reduce dependence on corrective lenses
Result: Creation of the complications seen in the four-column matrix below.

Surgery #2:

Performed: Tuesday, April 20, 1999 at 11:00am (Right eye)
Surgeon: Dr. Douglas Steel and Advanced Sight Medical Group, Los Angeles, California
Laser: Summit
Goal: Trying to correct the polyopia from irregular astigmatism caused by the prior surgery
Result: Introduced flap striae, R eye becomes even more far-sighted

Surgery #3:

Performed: Tuesday, July 20, 1999 7:00am (Both eyes)
Surgeon: Dr. Thomas S. Tooma, Newport Beach, California
Laser: Nidec
Goals: Trying to remove flap striae on R eye, and trying to correct polyopia from irregular astigmatism induced from original surgery (which caused central islands)
Result: All original complications remain, as seen in the four-column matrix below.

The following matrix summarizes my symptoms, caused primarily by the October 1998 surgery.  That surgeon (Dr. Steel in Los Angeles), and his cooperating optometrist (Dr. Volmer in Manhattan Beach), both told me days/weeks after the surgery, "Just be patient, your eyes will heal and these effects will resolve".  However, as weeks became years, these adverse symptoms remained.  I've slowly discovered on my own (as no subsequent professional ever informed me) that I'm stuck with these for life.

Post-Surgery Vision

Condition one year after first surgery

Refraction:

• OD: +1.25 spherical, -2.25 cylindrical

• OS: +0.75 spherical, -1.75 cylindrical

Comments:

• Moderate farsightedness on R eye with moderate and irregular astigmatism

• Uncorrected, I have 20/25 in the left and 20/80 in the right

• With correction (glasses) I have about 20/25 in both eyes

• I need glasses to drive

• I need glasses to read, with difficulty

• I've been told I cannot use soft contact lenses any longer due to LASIK procedure reshaping my cornea

• I continue to have all the complications listed in the above table

Condition two years after surgery

Refraction:

• OD: +1.50 spherical, -2.25 cylindrical (over-correction has worsened slightly during the past year)

• OS: +0.75 spherical, -1.75 cylindrical

Comments:

• Uncorrected, I have 20/30 in the left and 20/100 in the right

• With correction (glasses) I have about 20/30 in both eyes

• I need glasses to read for more than about 30 seconds

• I continue to have all the complications listed in the above table

After three years

Refraction:

• OD: +1.25 spherical, -2.50 x 25 cylindrical

• OS: +0.75 spherical, -1.75 x 5 cylindrical (over-correction has worsened slightly during the past year)

Comments:

I was told my irregular astigmatism (which is only partially corrected by wearing glasses now) could be helped by contacts but I don't want them because:

• • Wearing contacts was what I was trying to avoid by persuing LASIK(!)

  • I'm not as irritated by it as I once was (I'm adapting mentally)

After four years

Refraction:

• • OD: +1.25 spherical, -2.50 x 25 cylindrical

  • OS: +0.75 spherical, -1.75 x 5 cylindrical 

Comments:

• • From the now-defunct Surgical Eyes, I learned: "Patients with refractive errors greater than -4D and scotopic pupils 8 mm or larger are contraindicated for 6-mm-zone excimer surgery…The onus is on the surgeon to choose the right patient…Not screening for these patients preoperatively is a critical oversight on the part of the surgeon because these complications cannot be remedied with currently available refractive techniques."

  • Stephen Trokel, MD, Enlargement of the PRK Optical Zone, Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery, 11/96. 

  • Peter Hersh, Jack Holladay, Corneal Optical Irregularity After Excimer Laser PRK, Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, 3/96. 

  • Gregory Klonos, MD, John Pallikaris, MD, A Computer Model for Predicting Image Quality after PRK, Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, 2/96. 

  • Yair Alster, Anat Loewenstein, Tami Baumwald, Isaac Lipshits, Moshe Lazar, Dapiprazole for Patients with Night Haloes After Excimer Keratectomy, Graefe’s Arch. Clin. Exp. Ophthalmol, Vol. 234, 2/96, S139-S141.

After five years

Refraction, as measured by Stein in Manhattan Beach:

• • OD: +1.00 spherical, -2.00 x 018 cylindrical (slightly improved from last year)

  • OS: -0.25 spherical, -1.75 x 002 cylindrical (slightly improved from last year)

Comments: 

• • Visual complications listed in above table are still present, neither worsened nor improved. 

  • Adjusting to these defects has taken time, and I'm learning to cope.

  • I've been contacted by ~6 people in 2003 who've asked me whether they should have LASIK performed and I caution them to (1) find the right surgeon and (2) only proceed if they feel they can no longer live with their current, corrected vision because it's a precious gift that cannot be restored easily.

After six years

Refraction, as measured by Stein in Manhattan Beach:

• • OD: +1.00 spherical, -2.00 x 018 cylindrical (same as last year)

  • OS: -0.25 spherical, -1.75 x 002 cylindrical (same as last year)

Comments: 

• • Visual complications listed in above table are still present, neither worsened nor improved.  

  • I prefer to avoid thinking about LASIK, and my loss, and trying to move on with my life.

  • I'm learning to cope, and trying to avoid the mental and physical pain of LASIK.

After twenty-seven years

Refraction, as measured by EyeSite in Newport Beach:

• OD: +1.50 spherical, -1.75 x 18 cylindrical

• OS: -0.50 spherical, -0.75 x 20 cylindrical

Refraction, as measured by LensCrafters in Newport Beach:

• OD: +1.25 spherical, -1.25 x 35 cylindrical

• OS: -0.50 spherical, -0.50 x 20 cylindrical

Scleral lenses

For years, specialists have suggested "solving" with custom/wavefront scleral lenses.  In March 2025, I learned from Kechum that custom scleral lenses cannot help my HOAs because my meridians (the lengths across my eyes: Up-Down and Left-Right) are ironically too symmetric.  Custom sclerals require asymmetry to "lock" onto an eyeball with correct orientation.    So sclerals are unlikely to help me.

Corneal thickness

After three surgeries 1998-99, with a resultant corneal thinning during each, future surgery risks ectasia.  Since my pachymetry is now borderline (OD: 445mm, and OS: 476mm), so a future surgery seems risky.

Simulations of my eyesight

Demonstrated by images attached at bottom of this page

With and without glasses, I constantly see:
1. Glare (moderate)
2. Generalized blurriness
3. Polyopia (two images in my L, and six images in my R, dispersed across ~0.50 degrees of angular area)

In low-light conditions, I see nearly-constant:
4. Starbursts. Their radial length are covariant with dilation of my pupils.
5. Halo

Looking Ahead (written 2004)

I hope that someday a topographically-linked laser can help me.  But even after such solutions are claimed to be effective, I'll hesitate because I have learned to distrust both the medical and legal communities.  I usually avoid thinking about my eyes, and my condition, because I then become frustrated, angry, depressed, and start thinking about killing myself.

Looking Ahead (written 2014)

I was an amateur astronomer, but can no longer enjoy those activities.  I was an engineer who enjoyed writing, deploying, scaling, integrating, securing and selling software, but I can no longer do those actions as easily.  I use audiobooks and podcasts, to leverage my hearing.   Luckily, suicidal thoughts return only rarely. 

Epilogue

I'm dissatisfied with all three surgical events, and follow-ups, because:

• • None delivered what each surgeon indicated.

  • Each introduced complications that appear impossible to correct.

  • My pupils' diameters were not measured in low light, so a small ablation zone caused HOA's now uncorrectable.

  • My post-operative best-corrected-vision is much worse than [pre-op with lenses].  ~1% of patients share my set of conditions.

  • My priceless eyesight has been permanently damaged, due to voluntary surgery.

  • For 25 years the medical community has said "there may be solutions in the future".   But they've all been mirages.

  • I've had to investigate, solo, the causes of the adverse effects, and try to piece everything together.

At least I can share my history, in hopes of helping others avoid my fate.  And  I can also better appreciate the luck that I'm not a "horror case" needing a corneal transplant.   But I wish I'd never had these surgeries -- certainly the worst decision of my life.  Compounding the anguish are the thousands of frustrating/confusing hours lost seeking answers as to what happened to me.   

Outbound Messages

To engineers at Apple: Grateful for your assistive features such as zoom, dictation and text-to-speech.

To the empathic Dr. Polan: Thanks for helping, however you could.

To the dismissive LASIK surgeon Dr. Steel: this.

To fellow sufferers:  One strategy is to keep yourself distracted and busy on other things.  In 2004, before social media became widespread, a distraught LASIK sufferer emailed me, reporting complications similar to mine, and I replied to her with:
"I have been where you are.  It's lonely because others don't see what you're seeing and feeling.  But you can find some peace in knowing we're luckier than others (e.g. blind people).  Remember that we're all born (and unconsciously learned to live) with our limited five senses.  For example, we hear only 20Hz-20kHz of the sound spectrum, and we see only 400nm-700nm of an otherwise-vast spectrum of light.   You must consciously adapt to your new limitation.  You can do it.  It's tough because we're all hard-wired to protect (and fix) ourselves to survive and prosper.  So our brain clings to problems it finds.  Let go, focus elsewhere, and you might feel less frustrated.  Keep yourself distracted.   I was angry for many years, and fought to understand (and prosecute) those who wronged me.  But eventually, we learn that we must spend our time/resources elsewhere, to preserve our mental health.

Need Help?

Suffering complications?  Confused?  Depressed?  Suicidal?  Please reach me and I'll help where I can.  

Links

• (Two dozen links/references collected >1998, are all now defunct and removed)

• LASIK Surgery: Do the Advertising and Risk Disclosures Reflect the True Risk of Complication?

• LASIK Horror Stories Are All Over Social Media. Should You Be Worried?

• LASIK Complications Support group on Facebook

• Doctors, former patients warn of LASIK eye surgery dangers: ‘Biggest scam ever put on the American public’

• Laser Refractive Surgery: From One Medical Student to Another - Complications

• Post-LASIK ectasia

• LASIKComplications.com

• VIsionSimulations.com

• Broken Eyes (documentary)

• 988LifeLine.org

History of this page

• 1999: Inception, migrated from my old GeoCities page (created in 1996).

• 2005-2024: Only sparse updates, as I chose distractions elsewhere, to minimize depression.

• 2025: Added image simulations, specialist visits, latest Rx, and latest corneal maps.

Below are 2023 corneal topo/tomo maps, as measured by Dr. Tooma decades after the surgeries:

WARNING:
Avoid refractive surgery.  Do not risk your fragile, priceless gift of eyesight.