Thread by @ChrisAlvino

I had LASIK 9-10 years ago and it left my legally blind. And EVERY single time I make a post about it on social media, one of the first comments I get, without exception, is victim blaming. Bc I had a negative outcome, people assume I went to a shady surgeon...

First, I want to address how fucked up it is that people immediately victim blame: you had a bad outcome bc you went to a second-rate surgeon. Like, ok, even if that was true, what does that say about the industry as a whole?

The public is aware that nightmarish LASIK outcomes are possible, they just assume they happen at those shady LASIK places. But the fact that the industry allows these places to exist in the first place should tell you everything you need to know about the industry.

Second, I went with a top eye surgeon from Beverly Hills and spent more than most on this surgery. I did not go to a second-rate surgeon. Yet I was still blinded by my procedure. Why? Because these complications are inherent to the procedure itself.

I've had several trolls tell me it's a skill issue. And yes, while some complications happen bc of surgeon error, the vast majority are caused by the procedure itself, even if everything goes perfectly.

Case in point: I had 20/20 vision for the first year after my surgery. I raved about it! Recommended it to all my friends. Then my vision slowly started to degrade until a few years later when I was legally blind.

It actually seemed to stop deteriorating the last couple years until I was infected with COVID in Jan and my visual aberrations worsened. (And yes, COVID does affect your eyesight and can cause many issues with the eye and the cornea itself).

My visual aberrations are so complicated, I've tried to reproduce them in Photoshop many times but can only get halfway there. Here's an approximation of what I see when I look at the moon, but imagine 10x the glare and starbursts and lots of weird diffractions happening at once

I always say, "if people could see what my eyes sre, no one would ever get LASIK again." Even though that image isn't as bad as what my actual vision looks like, it's a start. So if you want to spread awareness, definitely share it.

Also, the only place I'm able to focus so things are sharp (but there are still many aberrations), is ~3-5 inches from my eyes. My whole life takes place literally 3" from my face. The worst part? Before COVID, it was about 3-7 inches away. COVID stole 2 inches of my eyesight.

This means I'm unable to drive, I can't read physical books anymore, I can't use a laptop, I can't look for things. I can't see what I'm eating. I can't read signs. I can't even see faces anymore! Everyone's face is just a big brown blur

The worst part for me is that I used to be a visual artist. I was doing professional design work as a teenager. I studied both classical and computer animation. I also studied film making alongside computer science at school. I used to be a professional photographer, etc.

A huge portion of my life and identity was wrapped up in visual media, and that's all been stolen from me now bc of LASIK, I became depressed and suicidal... And I'm one of the lucky ones. The people with bad neuropathy have it the worst...

These are the people who get LASIK and then, for the rest of their lives, it feels like they have shards of broken glass in their eyes. And these no cure. These are the people most likely to commit suicide after LASIK.

I should also add, there's very little treatment for myself as well. LASIK changes the way your eye works so I can't correct this with glasses or contacts. At my last appointment, my surgeon said I'd just have to learn to live it, then he shrugged his shoulders and walked away.

Be smarter than me, avoid LASIK at all costs, the risks are MUCH HIGHER than what the industry reports. Here's a great page explaining what's going on with those 96-99% satisfaction reports: lasiknewswire.com/2009/12/the-tr…

And remember, #LASIKisDangerous. If you want to learn about the true complication risks of LASIK, I recommend checking out this site, it's the one thing I wish I did before I had my surgery: lasikcomplications.com

Damn, thought I was in the thread when I wrote this. But these two tweets do a good job at demonstrating exactly how bad your mental health can get after having bad LASIK complications:

https://twitter.com/ChrisAlvino/status/1639815392955621376?t=6SB5HzmJnx3yowxjOLbeEA&s=19

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention stairs. Stairs now give me HUGE anxiety bc I see multiple steps where there should only be one, and they move around when I walk up or down them—I'm petrified of stairs and take them very, very slowly bc they are so disorienting.

Damn, since this🧵 really took off, there's a petition I'm supporting that could use help. It's a petition to stop cyberbullying among mental health professionals by making it an ethics violation. Please sign to show your support: chng.it/C9XnWhBk9t