Laser Eye Surgery Remains Luxury For Most

Christopher Tomes, 43, opened his eyes one morning, looked out the window and could read the license plate of a parked car - without his glasses.

He'd had Lasik eye surgery the day before, becoming one of the 5 million Americans seeking to shed their eyeglasses with laser vision correction during the past decade.

"It's exceptional," Mr. Tomes said of his vision nine days after surgery. "I'm extremely happy I did it."

Since U.S. doctors began offering laser vision correction in 1995, safety has improved and new methods give people with more severe vision problems a chance to have the procedure.

But there's still no guarantee of 20 / 20 eyesight, the procedure's long-term safety is unknown and one recent study showed nearly 18 percent of patients require a second Lasik treatment. A lack of health insurance coverage keeps the procedure a luxury item, affordable only to people who can spare $3,000 to $5,000.

In addition, a technology arms race means some vision clinics are bragging about their new equipment and techniques, such as wavefront-guided Lasik and a new "blade-free" method. That further complicates a consumer's decision.

"You listen to the radio, you hear the ads," said Chicago refractive surgeon Dr. Colman

Kraff. "A lot of it is trying to market to the patient to scare them a little bit into having one procedure over another."

The average Lasik patient is about 39 years old with an income of about $88,000, said Dave Harmon, president of Market Scope, a company that tracks the industry....