“As ophthalmologists, we make an effort to screen patients,” examining not only corneas, but medical and psychiatric histories. “All surgeries have risks,” Gicheru said. While some have had side effects, he has never seen one commit suicide as a result. But Gicheru has had Lasik surgery himself, has had typical side effects, and has performed the surgery on hundreds of patients. He only knows what he’s read in the media, he said, so he can’t talk about specifics. Sidney Gicheru, a Dallas ophthalmologist made available by the American Academy of Ophthalmology, speaks carefully about the Starr case. If Jessica Starr hadn’t put that video on Facebook, would we even know?”ĭr. Most people are private about these things. She had Lasik in 2000, an operation she deeply regrets she hasn’t been able to drive at night since then, and has “a long list” of complications, including floaters, pain and chronic dry eyes.Ĭofer said Starr’s suicide is not an isolated event. Because we’ve been through it.”Ĭofer has maintained a website documenting Lasik complications for more than a decade. “In my community of injured Lasik patients, we’re not surprised at all,” said Cofer in a phone interview from her home in Tampa, Fla. To Paula Cofer, it all seems very familiar. In another video, recorded a week previous and apparently not done for public consumption - it was shared by her husband with Fox 2 - Starr says of her recovery, “it’s been emotional.” “I wore contact lenses for 23 years, and I had a really high script,” Starr said in her video. For people who’ve worn glasses or contacts all their lives, particularly women whose livelihood is at least partially dependent on maintaining their appearance, as TV personalities are, it can be very tempting. Patient testimonials talk about vision transformed literally overnight, painlessly. Surgeons who perform surgeries like the one Starr underwent - a form of Lasik known as SMILE (Small incision lenticule extraction) – say the procedures are safe and effective. I'm not visualizing things like I used to.'" Rose said in his Fox 2 interview: “She looked at me and she said, 'Dan, it's like my eyes and my brain aren't communicating like they used to. “I’m struggling a little bit,” Starr said in a social-media video post made a month after the surgery. In interviews this week on Fox 2 and “Good Morning America,” Rose and Jessica's mother, Carol Starr, say the surgery caused a change in Jessica’s personality, due to pain, dry eye and concerns that she would never fully heal. Today, Starr’s family, including her husband, Daniel Rose, point to that surgery as a turning point. The only cloud on her horizon, at least in the public view of it, was vision-correcting Lasik surgery that was proving harder to recover from than anticipated. If you or anyone you know is struggling and needs confidential help, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 1-80.Meteorologist Jessica Starr (Photo: Fox 2) In a New York Times article last June, the newspaper wrote of a report that found nearly “half of all people who had healthy eyes before Lasik developed visual aberrations for the first time after the procedure,” and that nearly “one-third developed dry eyes, a complication that can cause serious discomfort, for the first time.” While the American Refractive Surgery Council, an organization comprised of industry representatives and medical professionals, states that “the risk of significant, sight-threatening LASIK complications is an extremely low 1 percent,” other reports suggest more troublesome results. 13, posting a video explaining her absence and saying, “I am struggling a little bit so I do still need all the prayers and well wishes.” She reported dimming vision, and said that, though her doctor explained her recovery could take up to three months, she was “trying to stay strong.” She asked viewers for tips and advice, and though visibly distressed, also spoke about the good Halloween she’d just had with her two children. She chronicled the treatment in Facebook posts, explaining that she’d worn contact lenses for 23 years and “had a really high script.”īut after taking four weeks off post-surgery – an unusually long recovery period – Starr briefly returned to her job and Facebook on Nov. Starr underwent laser eye surgery in October to correct her vision. SAG-AFTRA Says Interim Agreements Are "Designed To Undermine The Production Slates" Of Hollywood Studios & "Ensure They Come Back To The Table"
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