Doctors Say Athletes Need Protection After Lasik Surgery

The doctors who repaired Bryan Smolinski’s injured left eye say that he and other athletes who have had their vision corrected with Lasik surgery are more susceptible to complications from blows to the eyes and should wear facial protection when competing.

King ophthalmologist Howard Lazerson of Westchester and refractive surgeon Robert K. Maloney of Westwood are not against Lasik.

But, said Lazerson, “You should be aware of the potential for damage ... because the cornea is never as strong following a procedure like that.”

In Lasik, a flap of tissue as thin as a human hair is cut and folded away from the eye with a scalpel. A laser beam is then used to reshape the cornea, and the flap is replaced.

The cornea in Smolinski’s left eye was cut and the flap dislodged slightly when he was high-sticked Dec. 26 by Ramzi Abid of the Phoenix Coyotes.

The flap folded under at the laceration point, impairing Smolinski’s vision. Lazerson, who said he’d never seen anything like it, referred him to Maloney, who specializes in Lasik complications.

“What I had to do was partially lift the flap, clean up underneath it, identify the laceration and then reposition the two pieces [on either side of the cut] back in the right position,” Maloney said.

If not for the complications that were the result of the earlier Lasik procedure, Smolinski might have been sidelined for only two or three days, Lazerson said.

As it was, he was out of the lineup for nearly a month.