MADISON — When her eye doctor suggested she considered putting the money needed for a new pair of glasses toward laser refractive surgery instead, Dana Conroy had her qualifications.
“I felt uncomfortable,” she said, “but I felt he must be pushing me towards this for a reason… I really trusted him.”
Yet what was advertised to be a quick and painless procedure proved to be anything but for Conroy.
“Horrific,” she said. “I could smell, hear (my) tissue burning. “I had a bad feeling, I wanted to get up and leave.”
Conroy, of Madison, Minnesota, is a videographer with Pioneer PBS television serving western Minnesota, with 11 Midwest Emmy awards to her credit.
Her first feature-length film made its world premiere April 14 at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival. She was greeted with a five-minute standing ovation.
“Overwhelming,” said Conroy of the response she received for “Broken Eyes.”
It’s a documentary on refractive laser surgery in which she turns the camera on herself and the laser refractive surgery industry. She tells the story of her own experience post surgery, as well as those of other patients who, like her, have suffered complications from the surgery.
They are lifelong complications.
“There’s no fix for this. It’s a one-way street,” Paula Cofer, of Tampa, Florida, tells Conroy in the documentary, speaking of the complications she endures.
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Cofer leads the national Lasik Complications Support Group for the thousands who live with complications from their surgery.
In the documentary, optometrists familiar with the risks presented by refractive laser surgery speak about them. Dr. Cynthia Mackay, who was a colleague to the inventor of laser eye surgery for vision correction, Dr. Morris Waxler, a former chief of the federal Food and Drug Administration, and Dr. Edward Boshnick, an optometrist specializing in helping those harmed by the surgery, are among those who offer their warnings about the risks in “Broken Eyes.”
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The majority of people who have the surgery report no long-term complications, and are satisfied with it, according to the Mayo Clinic. Many who have the surgery are passionate about how much they appreciate it, Conroy said.
Yet the fact remains that an unknown number of patients will suffer lifelong complications, according to Conroy. She said she produced this documentary on behalf of those who are suffering those complications and not being heard.
“I felt I had to do it. I had to give this population a voice,” she said.
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Conroy said she believes the industry has its own script to promote the surgery. Too many patients choose it without understanding or weighing the risks, Conroy argues. She is critical of the industry and charges that it does not adequately advise patients of the risks.
Conroy, 40, had worn glasses and contacts throughout most of her life when she decided to have the surgery three years ago. She invested $6,000 of her own funds for it. She has spent more than $4,000 since dealing with the complications.
Tom Cherveny/West Central Tribune
Gritty and dry eyes. Halos. Constant floaters. Difficulty driving at night. Blurry vision that fluctuates and still requires that she wear eyeglasses. Ringing in the ears and nerve pain associated with the damage to the nerves in the cornea.
She relies daily on special eye drops made with her own blood and placentas. She needs her corrective glasses more than ever. She can no longer use the soft contact lenses she once used regularly.
In producing the documentary, she met many with far greater complications than hers. A Minnesota woman broke into tears in front of her young children while telling how she will eventually need a cornea transplant. A graphic designer spoke about the complication known as epithelial ingrowth, in which cells grow inside her eyes and cloud her vision.
Conroy devoted three years toward producing this documentary. It was done all on her own dime and time. She traveled around the country to interview her subjects.
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Everyone she talked to told her they would give anything to have their “old” vision back and put their glasses back on, she said. Many are troubled by the thought that they did this to themselves.
“How was I so stupid,” they ask.
Conroy discovered that mental distress has actually led some patients to take their own lives. For herself, she said producing the documentary helped her come to terms with her own anguish over having chosen the surgery. As a mother of three children and a wife, she pointed out that her jobs with the complications have impacted her entire family.
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The documentary is not yet available for public viewing. She will be entering it in a number of upcoming film festivals in hopes that it will be acquired and distributed.
She is not worried about whether she recovers her investment in producing “Broken Eyes.” Her only hope is to see it distributed to a larger audience.
“We’ve got to educate, help people make the best choice for themselves,” she said. “I’ll put my money on that.”
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