Sohaib Ashraf lay back in the reclining chair and stared into the blinking red light through the microscope. Ten minutes later, the surgery was done. It took just ten minutes for his life to change forever.
Having worn glasses since childhood, Sohaib always dreamed of having 20/20 vision. He knew of laser eye surgery and how it could help those with poor sight. After saving up for the procedure, he booked an appointment at the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital.
Sohaib was just 26-years-old when he went under the laser in January 2013. Aside from some slight discomfort at first, the surgery appeared to have gone well.
But just a few weeks later, Sohaib woke with an excruciating stabbing sensation in his eyes. He also had ‘halos‘ and glare – as though he was looking at the world through a dirty car windscreen. Nine years on, the terrible side effects remain. The pain is so severe it has made him suicidal.
“You just want to wake up in the morning and not want to put anything on your eyes,” he told the Manchester Evening News . “You just want to start your day and live your best and adventurous life. That’s a dream that a lot of people who have glasses have. I wasn’t different to anyone else wearing glasses.
“I did a bit of research into the surgery and saved up a bit of money for the first time in my life. And what better to spend your money on than something that would improve you?”
Sohaib, who lives in Preston with his wife and young son, was working at a pharmacist when he had the procedure done. His agony became so debilitating, he was forced to give up his job – a career he spent years studying towards.
Now aged 36, Sohaib says he still struggles with pain every single day. The dad-of-one has spent tens of thousands of pounds towards treatments and medication in a bid to ease his suffering. He says the worst part about the ordeal is that he did this to himself.
“The worst thing is blaming yourself and realising that I did this to myself and I chose to do this,” he continued. “I do more research when I go to buy a TV, looking at all the specs and using comparison websites. But this – I suspended my judgement.
“I'm just surviving. On the days when I’m ill, it feels so much worse. I’ve spent tens of thousands on pain treatments and medication and the amount of money I’ve lost from work. I’ve spent hours on the internet just researching and looking for cures.”
Sohaib was treated with LASEK surgery, a procedure where a cutting laser is used to change the shape of the dome-shaped clear tissue at the front of the eye (cornea) to improve vision.
Once he began experiencing side-effects from the surgery, he visited the clinic month after month for help, but doctors struggled to find the root of the cause – telling him he was suffering from dry eyes.
“This went on for years, me constantly going back to the doctors,” Sohaib added. “He was getting sick of me. He couldn’t see the cause of the pain. To him, I was wasting his time.
“The pain was just unrelenting. It was so bad, I had to stop working as a pharmacist. I was suicidal. I was forced to look for a new career where I could work around my eye pain. That was the most difficult thing I’ve done in my life. I had to study and find a new career while I was in so much pain.”
Every year, around 100,000 people in the UK undergo refractive eye surgery, ranging at a cost of £1,200 to £2,700 per eye.
There are a number of different procedures, including the well-known surgery LASIK, where a flap is cut in the cornea and a deeper layer of the eyeball shaped. There is also LASEK, the type Sohaib had, which reshapes the eye’s surface.
Eventually, Sohaib was diagnosed with recurrent corneal erosion syndrome, dry eye and neuropathic pain. His conditions see him wake up every hour to put drops in his eyes – meaning he hasn’t had a full night’s sleep in nine years.
Laser eye surgery complications came to light in 2018 when US meteorologist Jessica Starr committed suicide after having LASIK. The 35-year-old took her own life just weeks before Christmas after struggling with side effects from the procedure.
The Fox 2 Detroit weather presenter was forced to take a month off work because of the pain and vision problems she was experiencing. At the time of her death, she had two young children aged five and three.
According to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), where Sohaib previously worked, a haze effect is one of the most common complications seen across laser eye surgery patients. Across different types of treatment, 0-31% of eyes treated with PRK were affected, 0-25% of eyes treated with LASEK were affected and 0-2% of eyes treated with LASIK were affected.
Other problems included difficulty seeing in dim light and seeing ‘halos’ of light around things at night. The NHS says common side effects of laser eye surgery include mild and gritty discomfort and visual disturbances including glare from oncoming headlights when driving at night.
According to the United States' National Library of Medicine, around 1 in 900 people were found to suffer from Neuropathic Corneal Pain, one of the most severe complications. The damaged nerves can cause sensations such as burning, stinging and eye ache.
But Sohaib says more people need to be warned about the possible side effects – making it his mission to properly inform those considering having the surgery. He helps run a Facebook group called LASIK Complications Support Group, which almost has 8,000 members.
“As a pharmacist, I had people come in saying things cause cancer. I would close my eyes and shake my head and say, ‘If these things were dangerous, the doctor would tell you about it,’” Sohaib continued.
“When I had the laser eye surgery, I felt the same way. These are highly-qualified professionals. They have degrees and have done the surgery so many times but most of them wear glasses themselves.
“Laser eye surgery is like Russian Roulette. If you have a cut on the arm of ten people, each scar would be different. We’re all human beings and heal in different ways. When the corneal tissue is taken away, it can’t be put back.
“These procedures been around for decades. The issue I have is if they've been around for 20 years, where is the long-term safety data? It's not like there are a lack of patients, they just haven't collected it because they don't want to. It shows it's not as safe as they claim.”
A spokesperson for Manchester Royal Eye Hospital, part of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust said: “We understand Mr Ashraf’s complaint was dealt with directly by the doctor who undertook this procedure on a private basis. Mr Ashraf can still contact our dedicated Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) if he would like to raise any further concerns with the Trust.”
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