Briana Coria, a 25-year-old police officer from Illinois, underwent LASIK surgery in 2020 to celebrate a career promotion, according to the report. Instead of perfect vision, she woke with permanently blurred and double vision, severe night halos, and ghosting that rendered her unable to work. She lost her job, sold her home, and fell into a deep depression — a trajectory shared by thousands of other patients, as the source details.

The £4,000 celebration that ended in blurred vision and job loss

Briana Coria had long dreamed of perfect vision after years of wearing thick "coke bottle" glasses that made her a target of bullying. to mark her promotion and acceptance into an elite police regiment, she chose LASIK — a procedure that costs around £4,000 and is undergone by over 100,000 Britons annually, the report notes. The clinic promised a life free from glasses, with safety rates marketed at 95 to 99 percent.

Instead, Coria woke from surgery with permanent vision damage . She has been signed off work sick for five years, unable to perform any police duties . The loss of income forced her and her husband to sell their newly purchased home and move in with her parents. She now works as a pet minder and campaigns on social media to warn others.

Why one-third of patients report lasting side effects — contrary to clinic claims

While the American Refractive Surgery Council estimates sight-threatening complications below 1 percent, emerging research suggests a far grimmer picture , according to the report. Some studies indicate up to a third of patients experience long-term side effects, including chronic pain , extreme light sensitivity, double vision, and visual disturbances like floaters and ghosting.

Support groups in the UK and US, with about 16 ,000 members, document these issues in detail. The gap between industry claims of near-perfect safety and the lived reality of thousands of patients raises serious questions about what "95 to 99 percent safe" actually means — and how serious complications are defined.

Two suicides, one pattern: Ryan Kingerski and Jessica Starr

The mental health toll of LASIK complications has claimed lives. Ryan Kingerski, a 26-year-old police officer and a friend of Coria's, died by suicide in January 2025 after months of pain and visual disturbances, the report states. In 2018, Detroit meteorologist Jessica Starr, 35, also died by suicide after similar struggles.

Coria herself fell into a deep depression, feeling like a burden and contemplating suicide. Her story, alongside those of Kingerski and Starr,underscores that the psychological impact of permanent vision damage is not a rare side effect — it is a direct consequence for many patients who believed the procedure was low-risk.

What the 16,000-member support groups reveal about informed consent

The report highlights a critical question: Are patients adequately informed of the risks before signing up for LASIK? Coria says she was told the procedure was routine and low-risk, with no mention of the possibility of permanent vision loss, chronic pain, or suicidal ideation. The 16,000 members of online support groups in the UK and US suggest a systemic failure in preoperative counseling.

It remains unclear whether clinics actively track long-term outcomes or report compliccations to regulators. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not require mandatory reporting of adverse events for LASIK, leaving patients — and their surgeons — largely in the dark about the true frequency of severe outcomes.