On its website, ABC News (9/22, Carollo) reported, “A former Food and Drug Administration official who helped get the vision correction surgery LASIK approved back in the 1990s but later spoke out against the procedure is taking his concerns directly to current regulators at the FDA.” Yesterday, “Morris Waxler, who is now an independent regulatory consultant, filed a citizen’s petition…urging the agency to take steps to stop what he calls ‘the epidemic of permanent vision problems’ caused by LASIK.”

According to “Waxler’s analysis of FDA data, half of LASIK patients experience side effects, and more than a third continue to need glasses or contacts,” ABC World News (9/22, story 6, 1:55, Sawyer) reported. After being asked if he “would you ever recommend LASIK to somebody” he cares about, “knowing what” he “knows now,” Dr. Waxler replied, “No, absolutely not.” While the “industry counters that most LASIK side effects are minor or temporary, and that complications are much lower with today’s modern LASIK,” the agency nevertheless is “now reviewing the procedure.”