Actually, not blinded, but close enough for this NYTimes writer who’s enduring complications from the highly-touted vision-correction surgery:

True, I no longer wear glasses. But the 20/20 line on the eye chart is blurry. I can make it out only if I squint, and it takes about a minute to read. My doctor views this as proof of the surgery’s success…

I thought I’d be able to decipher words in the real world at a glance. My consent form said: “The patient understands that the benefit of the Lasik/P.R.K. procedure is to have an improved uncorrected visual acuity.” I took that to mean that my eyesight would be 20/20. Most doctors, on the other hand, focus on the words “improved uncorrected visual acuity.”

“Not every patient has the potential to see 20/20,” Dr. Belmont told me this month. So, if your eye can see 20/20 with glasses or contacts, the doctors try to replicate that, but there are no guarantees. Dr. Belmont said, “You do the best that you can.”

Medical chutzpah never fails to amaze me: They solve the problem with a solution that’s worse, and count that as success.

This worst-case scenario is exactly what’s kept me from taking the plunge. My glasses are an invitation for others to advise me about the wonders of Lasik, particularly those who’ve had the procedure themselves. They swear by it and can’t understand why anyone won’t follow suit.

I’ve thought about it. Aside from the significant out-of-pocket cost, I’m just not comfortable with having my eyeballs messed with. Surgery is always a crapshoot, and the prospect of gambling with my eyesight — potentially making it worse — doesn’t thrill me. I can live with, and easily correct, a botched nosejob; I can’t live with vision that’s functionally impaired.

Yes, my unaided vision flat-out sucks, and it’d be nice to not need corrective lenses. But in a way, my situation is stable. It’s not like my vision just now took a dive — it’s been poor since grade school. I’m used to it. And glasses or contacts do the job fine. I can’t recall being in a situation where I couldn’t do something because my eyesight wasn’t up to snuff, or needing glasses got seriously in the way. There’s no urgency, so the incentive for Lasik isn’t there.

I do sense a societal shift on this. More and more, I get the feeling that wearing glasses is viewed as more of an eccentricity, or indication of socio-economic standing, when less-obvious solutions like Lasik or contact lenses are available. I’m not immune to peer pressure, so I’m sure in another few years, I’ll probably go back to contacts, and all the while keep surgery in the back of my mind.

It won’t happen anytime soon, though. And this episode of botched Lasiking should keep me away from the knife for a while yet.