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It wasn’t the first botched LASIK operation, and it probably won’t be the last. The internet is stunned after 26-year-old Ryan Kingerski, a former police officer in Pennsylvania, took his own life, seemingly because his LASIK eye surgery did not turn out as planned. His parents say his decision to end his life was directly related to LASIK permanently damaging his eyesight.
Highlights
- A former police officer in PA ended his life after an unsuccessful LASIK procedure
- The surgery left his eyesight worse than it was before the surgery
- There have been additional cases of people ending their own lives after a botched LASIK surgery
- LASIK lobby releases statement in aftermath of media storm on Ryan’s story
In August of 2024, Ryan chose to have elective LASIK surgery. He was planning on taking a few days off work, but as the days and months dragged on, his eyesight was not getting any better.
Ryan’s parents told KDKA News, a CBS station from Pittsburgh, that their son was having very bad pain in his head. “He had terrible headaches and wasn’t able to focus, and the vision and blurriness and everything else just continued.”
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For five months after getting LASIK, Ryan lived with constant pain until he took his life
Image credits: Getty Images/Unsplash (Not the actual photo)
After living with the pain for five months, he couldn’t take it anymore. In January, Ryan ended his life. He left a note for his parents saying, in part, that he “couldn’t take it anymore. LASIK took everything from me.”
Ryan’s parents said that after the procedure, he was full of regret. But before, he was “witty, charming, smart and a lot of fun to be around,” Stefanie Kingerski said.
They say he decided to go ahead with the elective procedure in part because his doctor told him it was 99.99% effective.
“He couldn’t take it anymore,” Ryan’s parents said, explaining that his sight was worse after the surgery
Image credits: CBS Pittsburgh
LASIK.com, a website with information on the procedure and eye doctors in the U.S. who perform the surgery, has addressed the recent media firestorm about the seeming connection between an unsuccessful surgery and someone taking their own life.
In a press release about Ryan, the site called his story “powerful and emotional.”
Image credits: Brands&People/Unsplash (Not the actual photo)
But the release urged the public to “be careful” because “there is a difference between honoring someone’s pain and making sweeping conclusions that aren’t supported by evidence.”
Image credits: Pete Dyer
The release said that when people take their own lives, it’s never “caused by a single factor. It’s the result of an incredibly complex interplay of mental health, biology, environment, life experiences, and sometimes physical suffering.”
“Not only misleading, it’s dangerous”: LASIK.com cautions against linking failed surgery to destructive behavior
Image credits: CBS Pittsburgh
LASIK.com feels that to draw a direct cause-and-effect line between a failed procedure and taking one’s life, without knowing the full context of that person’s medical history, is “not only misleading, but dangerous.”
The release promoted a balanced approach, “not fearmongering or blind defense.” It said that grief “often seeks a cause,” but that it’s important to remember that “sometimes the most painful truths are the most complicated.”
This isn’t the first time someone has taken their own life after having a LASIK surgery that did not work.
In December of 2018, 35-year-old Jessica Starr, a meteorologist for a TV station in Detroit, also took her own life, seemingly due to complications with LASIK.
Starr was the mother of two young children, and according to her late husband Dan Rose during an interview on Good Morning America, she was not showing any signs of depression prior to the surgery.
Ill-fated LASIK surgeries could have caused more than one person to take their life
After the surgery, her husband says, she knew something was wrong immediately. She began withdrawing from things like eating meals or going out of the house with her family.
In a video diary before she took her life, Starr said that she was “really mad at [herself] for doing this,” explaining, “I don’t know why. I was fine in contacts. Glasses weren’t that big of a deal. It was fine.“
Her husband and her family are convinced that she took her own life because of the failed elective LASIK procedure. “There is nothing else that we can attribute it to.”
Image credits: CBS Pittsburgh
There are multiple cases of LASIK surgeries gone wrong, causing depression or worse
Image credits: LASIK.com
And there are others. According to LASIK Complications, a website for people to share their LASIK complication stories, there have been at least 30 cases of people ending their lives after getting LASIK that didn’t work.
The site says that when LASIK surgery leaves a patient worse than they were before they had the surgery, oftentimes, patients experience extreme depression.
Image credits: Jessica Starr
Now, after several alleged cases of people taking their own lives after disastrous LASIK surgeries, netizens are starting to speak up about their own decisions to get or not get the surgery.
Image credits: Jessica Starr
“I miss being able to see stars clearly, and I even miss the practical and aesthetic benefits of wearing glasses. If I could go back, I’m not sure I’d make the same choice,” one person said.
“I had thought about getting laser eye surgery, but hearing doctors who previously approved it and now speaking against it, was enough for me to just deal with contacts,” said another.
800,000 people get LASIK surgery every year, according to the National Institutes of Health
LASIK stands for laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis. According to LASIK.com, it’s one of the most popular elective procedures in the world to correct things like nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism.
During LASIK surgery, a laser is used to change the shape of a person’s cornea, the dome-shaped tissue covering the eye.
Image credits: CBS Pittsburgh
Typically, a person’s cornea refracts light precisely onto the retina at the back of the eye. But with nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism, the light is bent incorrectly, resulting in blurred vision.
Image credits: Vadim/stock.adobe.com (Not the actual photo)
Generally, patients notice an improvement in their vision immediately after a successful LASIK surgery, but full recovery can take anywhere from 2-3 months, depending on how good their eyesight was prior to the surgery. Patients with post-op complications can suffer from dry eyes, double vision or undercorrection, the Mayo Clinic says.
Image credits: CTV News
Roughly 800,000 people get the procedure in the U.S. every year, the National Institutes of Health said in a report from 2021, with the price being roughly $1,500 per eye. And no, the procedure is not typically covered by insurance.
Image credits: Official W5
Netizens think twice about LASIK after it seems another person took their own life due to a failed surgery
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What do you think ?
Ruth Watry 6 months ago
I had LASIK at 38 because of some problems with my Retina (if it got worse they would not be able to get surgery) and not being able to read the big E on the eye chart. They let me know that I would still need reading glasses when I got older (they were repairing near sightedness), and that my astigmatism was severe and would come back. They also let me know that there was a possibility that they could under correct the astigmatism (since if they overcorrected it I would have permanent vision damage), and they did not have to do a second procedure with one eye. I am now 59 and have been wearing glasses for 10 years, but the surgery was totally worth it. I cannot imagine how bad my vision would be had I not done it.
Auntriarch 6 months ago
I had it done 15 years ago, but with monovision so I wouldn't need reading glasses (I was in my 50s when I had it done and already had monovision contact lenses). I had no problems with it, my optician was dubious about it, but of course he sees the people for whom it failed. I think there might be some cowboy outfits, mine had a good reputation.
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LauraDragonWench 6 months ago (edited)
I'm sorry, but... seriously? The man lived with the pain for 5 months before he offed himself. FIVE MONTHS?!? I had experimental brain surgery nearly 25 years ago that turned my months-long yet still treatable migraines into a single, permanent migraine that does not EVER shut off or go away. Yes, 25 years of constant pain, with chronic dizziness, nausea, and vertigo. I've looked into having the surgery reversed and was told it wouldn't help and could potentially make things even worse! I had LASIK about 15 years ago because my eyesight had deteriorated so much, accelerated by my migraine, that I was nearly blind in my left eye and having to rely on my right eye was affecting the sight there as well. After LASIK, for the first time in years, my vision was 20/10 - it was wonderful and I have no regrets. The only problem is that I can no longer have another round as they have to shave my retina to its limit. 1/2
LauraDragonWench 6 months ago
My eyesight is beginning to fade again, but it's in much better shape than it would've been without the LASIK. I'm not trying to be mean to this man - everyone's pain tolerance is different - but I've thought of suicide thousands of times over the years, but for whatever masochist reason I'm still going. And I don't have a spouse/boyfriend, kids, or anything like a reason TO keep going, other than my cats. To give up after 5 months seems...sad. For other reasons than the obvious. 2/2
Load More Replies...
Ruth Watry 6 months ago
I had LASIK at 38 because of some problems with my Retina (if it got worse they would not be able to get surgery) and not being able to read the big E on the eye chart. They let me know that I would still need reading glasses when I got older (they were repairing near sightedness), and that my astigmatism was severe and would come back. They also let me know that there was a possibility that they could under correct the astigmatism (since if they overcorrected it I would have permanent vision damage), and they did not have to do a second procedure with one eye. I am now 59 and have been wearing glasses for 10 years, but the surgery was totally worth it. I cannot imagine how bad my vision would be had I not done it.
Auntriarch 6 months ago
I had it done 15 years ago, but with monovision so I wouldn't need reading glasses (I was in my 50s when I had it done and already had monovision contact lenses). I had no problems with it, my optician was dubious about it, but of course he sees the people for whom it failed. I think there might be some cowboy outfits, mine had a good reputation.
Load More Replies... LauraDragonWench 6 months ago (edited)
I'm sorry, but... seriously? The man lived with the pain for 5 months before he offed himself. FIVE MONTHS?!? I had experimental brain surgery nearly 25 years ago that turned my months-long yet still treatable migraines into a single, permanent migraine that does not EVER shut off or go away. Yes, 25 years of constant pain, with chronic dizziness, nausea, and vertigo. I've looked into having the surgery reversed and was told it wouldn't help and could potentially make things even worse! I had LASIK about 15 years ago because my eyesight had deteriorated so much, accelerated by my migraine, that I was nearly blind in my left eye and having to rely on my right eye was affecting the sight there as well. After LASIK, for the first time in years, my vision was 20/10 - it was wonderful and I have no regrets. The only problem is that I can no longer have another round as they have to shave my retina to its limit. 1/2
LauraDragonWench 6 months ago
My eyesight is beginning to fade again, but it's in much better shape than it would've been without the LASIK. I'm not trying to be mean to this man - everyone's pain tolerance is different - but I've thought of suicide thousands of times over the years, but for whatever masochist reason I'm still going. And I don't have a spouse/boyfriend, kids, or anything like a reason TO keep going, other than my cats. To give up after 5 months seems...sad. For other reasons than the obvious. 2/2
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