Warning: This story discusses suicide.
\nIf you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit\u00a0SpeakingOfSuicide.com\/resources\u00a0for additional resources.
\nA 26-year-old police officer in Pennsylvania died by suicide after his life became unbearable due to complications from LASIK vision correction surgery, his parents say.
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\nRyan Kingerski experienced double and blurry vision, saw starbursts, floaters and ghostly rings around objects, suffered from dry eyes, eye pain, \u201cterrible headaches\u201d and had what he described as \u201ca buzzing in his face\u201d after undergoing the procedure, his father notes.
\nThe family is in anguish but wants to speak out to raise awareness about the risks of the surgery. Some experts and patients have been warning about the \u201cdevastating\u201d potential\u00a0long-term side effects of LASIK, as TODAY.com previously reported.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s been terrible, but we feel that other people need to know that they don’t have to go through what we’re going through because of LASIK,\u201d his father, Tim Kingerski, who lives in suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, tells TODAY.com.
\n\u201cDo you have a loved one that you love more than life? Imagine your life without them every day, when they had no health issues or anything wrong with them. There\u2019s a part of us missing.\u201d
\nRyan Kingerski served in the\u00a0Penn Hills Police Department\u00a0for three years, a job he\u2019d wanted since he was a little boy, his parents say. His father was a police officer and his twin brother, Jacob, chose the same career path.
\nThe young police officer\u00a0died on January 25, 2025, five months after undergoing LASIK.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we don\u2019t know the clinical details of Ryan\u2019s case, we do know that the answer to the question of why a person chooses to die by suicide is complex and most often related to depression and emotional trauma,\u201d Dr. Stephen D. McLeod, CEO of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, tells TODAY.com in a statement.
\n\u201cWe have no idea what role LASIK itself might have played. Regardless, this is a tragedy, and our hearts go out to Ryan Kingerski\u2019s family.\u201d
\nKingerski\u2019s father insists his death was not a mental health issue. \u201cThis was a LASIK issue,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Ryan Kingerski had been wearing glasses and contact lenses to correct his vision since junior high school and was looking forward to no longer needing them, his father says.
\nIn August 2024, Kingerski underwent LASIK in both of his eyes, an elective procedure in which a laser is used to remove a thin layer of tissue in the cornea, permanently changing its shape and improving how it focuses light on the retina, resulting in sharper vision,\u00a0according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
\nKingerski\u2019s vision problems started immediately after surgery and became progressively worse, his father recalls.
\n\u201cHe was unable to go back to work. He struggled to just do the things that he loved to do,\u201d Tim Kingerski says.
\n"It was like looking through a dirty window \u2014 that’s how he described his vision after LASIK." Kingerski reached out to a corneal specialist for help with his symptoms and was told his corneas were thin and that his problems were irreversible, according to his father.
\nThe 26-year-old could no longer play golf or video games with his brother and his friends, his father says. Even watching TV was difficult, he adds. Kingerski’s mother also observed these behavioral changes.
\nThe young police officer didn\u2019t have a history of depression or mental illness, and was always a happy, outgoing person, his father says. He \u201c100%\u201d blames the eye surgery complications for driving his son to take his own life.
\nThe family shared a review Kingerski posted online in November 2024 in which he wrote the procedure destroyed his quality of life.
\nKingerski left behind a suicide note, writing that \u201cLASIK took everything from me. I can’t take it anymore,\u201d his father says.<\/p>\n
LASIK is generally considered safe and has a high patient satisfaction rate, but like all surgical procedures, it carries certain risks, the FDA says in a statement.
\n\u201cThe FDA takes any loss of life very seriously and continuously reviews the latest evidence to ensure strong, science-based recommendations that protect the health and safety of all Americans,\u201d an FDA spokesperson tells TODAY.com.
\nMore than 40 million LASIK procedures have been performed worldwide,\u00a0according to the American Refractive Surgery Council,\u00a0which calls it \u201can excellent option for vision correction for those who are good candidates.\u201d
\n"There is no scientific evidence correlating LASIK to suicide," the council says in a statement to TODAY.com.
\n"While recent news stories may raise questions, individual cases don’t reflect the broader safety profile established through decades of research over thousands of studies."
\nBut some LASIK patients can develop \u201cdebilitating visual symptoms,\u201d including glare, halos or double vision, the\u00a0FDA notes on its website.
\nUp to 46% of patients who had no visual symptoms before LASIK reported at least one visual symptom three months after surgery,\u00a0a government study found.
\nSome patients can also develop severe dry eye syndrome, which can cause discomfort and blurring, the FDA noted.
\nSide effects after LASIK usually go away over time, but in rare cases, they may not go away,\u00a0according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
\nUp to 75% of LASIK patients had ongoing chronic dry eye symptoms four years or more after undergoing the procedure, a recent\u00a0study\u00a0found.
\nThere are\u00a0Reddit pages,\u00a0websites\u00a0and\u00a0Facebook support groups\u00a0devoted to LASIK complications started by patient activists like Paula Cofer of Tampa, Florida, who\u00a0previously told TODAY.com\u00a0she suffered from extremely dry eyes and other problems years after undergoing the eye surgery.
\n"It’s a disastrous procedure affecting people in a real way," Dr. Edward Boshnick, an optometrist in Miami, Florida, told TODAY.com. He specializes in treating patients who\u2019ve experienced LASIK complications.<\/p>\n
While most patients are good candidates,\u00a0LASIK\u00a0is not for everyone, the American Academy of Ophthalmology cautions. It recommends patients talk with their ophthalmologist to understand the potential risks.
\nThe FDA has a list outlining who is\u00a0not a good candidate for LASIK.
\nThe agency says it\u00a0regulates the lasers used for the surgery\u00a0but doesn\u2019t have the authority to tell doctors what they tell their patients about it.
\nThat would have changed under\u00a0proposed FDA guidelines\u00a0in 2022, which would have required that patients considering LASIK be told \u201cin simple, lay language\u201d about the benefits and risks of the procedure.
\nThe proposed labels \u2014 which have not been implemented \u2014 would have disqualified people with thin corneas, for example, a condition Ryan Kingerski found out he had after undergoing LASIK, his father says.
\nRyan Kingerski also felt the potential complications were not fully explained to him by his doctors at LasikPlus in Pittsburgh, he adds.
\nLasikPlus did not respond to TODAY.com requests for comment, but the company sent a\u00a0statement to KDKA-TV\u00a0in Pittsburgh, noting each patient is provided with a copy of the informed consent form at the pre-operative appointment for review \u2014 \u201ctypically days in advance of the subsequently scheduled treatment. The consent form addresses the recognized risks, benefits and alternatives of the proposed procedure."
\n\u201cLegal requirements prevent us from speaking to the specifics of any patient, but suicide generally cannot be reduced to any single cause. To be clear, there is no clinical evidence linking suicide to LASIK eye surgery,\u201d the statement read.
\nPatients who\u2019ve had a LASIK complication can\u00a0report the problem to the FDA\u00a0via an online form.<\/p>\n
The tragic case of Ryan Kingerski serves as a stark reminder of the potential risks associated with LASIK surgery. While the procedure is generally considered safe, it is not without its complications, and patients must be fully informed of these risks before making a decision. The FDA and medical community must continue to monitor the safety of LASIK and take steps to ensure that patients are adequately informed and protected.<\/p>\n
Q: What are the potential risks of LASIK surgery?
\nA: Potential risks of LASIK surgery include dry eyes, eye pain, double vision, and other visual symptoms. In rare cases, these side effects may be permanent.
\nQ: How common are complications from LASIK surgery?
\nA: While complications from LASIK surgery are rare, they can occur. Up to 46% of patients who had no visual symptoms before LASIK reported at least one visual symptom three months after surgery.
\nQ: Can LASIK surgery cause suicide?
\nA: There is no scientific evidence correlating LASIK to suicide. However, the procedure can have a significant impact on a person’s quality of life, and patients must be fully informed of the potential risks before making a decision.
\nQ: How can patients report LASIK complications to the FDA?
\nA: Patients who\u2019ve had a LASIK complication can\u00a0report the problem to the FDA\u00a0via an online form.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Introduction to the Tragic Event Warning: This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit\u00a0SpeakingOfSuicide.com\/resources\u00a0for additional resources. A 26-year-old police […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21486","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/media.nbcchicago.com\/2025\/05\/05282025-Ryan-Kingerski-NATL.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&resize=1200%2C675&w=1200&resize=1200,675&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21486"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21486"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21488,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21486\/revisions\/21488"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}