Would I ever undergo Lasik?

At this point, I would have to say no. And by that I mean hell no. Here's why: roughly 2-3 percent of Lasik patients experience complications. What do complications include? They can include blurred vision, dry eyes, ghosting (where something is seen in overlapping copies of itself) and visual quality that, according to one recent report in my local newspaper, is equivalent to attempting to see through a grease-smeared, cracked pane of glass.

Two to three percent might seem like an acceptably low margin for some people. But, frankly, as far as I am concerned, it's about ten times too high. Try consoling yourself with such statistics if you end up as one of the unlucky patients with lifelong visual defects as a result.

I actually went to a Lasik screening about a year ago at no cost. The screening did seem fairly thorough and exhaustive. One thing I didn't like about it, however, is that it had the feeling of factory production.

Nope. My eyes are not widgets to be adjusted on someone's high volume production floor.

Postscript: some individuals who have had complications and deterioration of their vision following Lasik have been helped by a Michigan optometrist, Ed Boshnick. Dr. Boshnick, as the Raleigh News and Observer reports, has had success fitting patients with special contact lenses that can restore the shape of the cornea and either eliminate or improve the visual defects caused by the Lasik procedure.