Doctors, patients warn of Lasik eye surgery perils after cop takes own life

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The recent suicide of a young Pennsylvania police officer has revealed the agonizing aftermath for some over Lasik eye surgery.

Ryan Kingerski, a 26-year-old officer with the Penn Hills Police Department, took his own life after months of excruciating pain, double vision and chronic headaches due to complications from the surgery.

Now, more people have emerged to reveal that Kingerski’s situation is not an isolated one.

“Everyone has different problems when it comes to Lasik,” Miami-based optometrist Edward Boshnick told the New York Post.

He referred to the surgery as a “BS procedure” and “the biggest scam ever put on the American public.”

Boshnick added: “And it’s a multibillion-dollar business.”

Providers of Lasik eye surgery, or laser vision correction, say it is 95% to 99% safe.

The “simple” procedure uses an ultraviolet laser to reshape the cornea, improving vision without glasses or contact lenses.

Morris Waxler, the former head of the Food and Drug Administration branch responsible for reviewing data and approving the Lasik operation decades ago, now regrets the decision.

He told CBS in 2019 that his own analysis of industry data showed complication rates between 10% and 30%, and in 2011, he petitioned the FDA to issue a voluntary recall of LASIK, the Post reported.

“It didn’t matter what questions and concerns I had, because the surgeons were very powerful and still are,” Waxler said.

In 2018, Jessica Starr, a meteorologist in Detroit, hanged herself two months after undergoing Lasik due to intense eye pain and vision problems, according to her husband Dan Rose.

The widower told WJBK that Starr left behind a 30-page suicide note and videos, which explained her decision to take her own life was due to the elective surgery.

Former LASIK patient Paula Cofer, of Tampa, Florida, told the publication she had suicidal ideations for two years after her “disastrous” surgery in 2000.

She also claimed to know of at least 40 people who took their own lives because they couldn’t stand the constant pain and vision problems that developed after the procedure.

“I really didn’t want to stick around at times, but I decided I would to get the word out about how dangerous this surgery can be,” she said.

“The LASIK lobby and the surgeons will tell you only 1% of patients have issues afterward. That’s not true. There are multiple studies that indicate otherwise.”

Cofer added: “The percentage of those with poor outcomes are in the double digits, not 1%. And they know it.”

She acknowledged that not everyone has severe complications but “a lot more people are suffering than you know,” noting that she suffers from “floaters, severe dry eyes, induced astigmatism and severe night vision problems.”

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Officer Kingerski, who underwent LASIK in August 2024, had similar symptoms.

His parents, Tim and Stefanie Kingerski, told KDKA about the side effects their son suffered post-surgery, including headaches and double vision, and seeing dark spots and floaters — small spots that appear as streaks.

“He kept saying how bad the pain in his head was. He had a terrible headache and wasn’t able to focus, and the vision and the blurriness and everything else — and that just continued,” his parents said.

“Regret was the big thing,” Stefanie said of their son, who would question, “‘Why would they do this to me? Why would they not tell me?’”

Ryan took his own life in January.

“He left us a note that said, ‘I can’t take this anymore. Lasik took everything from me.’ That’s the note that we got left,” Tim said.

Stefanie added: “That’s what we were left with.”