This is a photograph of my left eye which was taken on June, 4, 2001.  The circular disc which appears to be a contact lens, is actually a new cornea that was skillfully implanted by Dr. Henry Gelender on August 16, 2000.

Previously, my eye had been damaged by multiple laser surgeries performed by Dr. Raymond Stein and Dr. Jeffery Machat.  Dr. Stein had performed PRK on my eye on three separate occasions, even though PRK was not approved by the FDA for my extreme astigmatism.  Dr. Machat then performed lasik on my eye.  I had been warned by Dallas surgeon, Dr. Bradford Pazandak, that lasik should never be performed on an eye that had previously undergone PRK.  However, Dr. Machat felt that he could fix the PRK complications by performing lasik on me.

Fortunately, my insurance company paid for my cornea transplant, because neither Dr. Stein  nor Dr. Machat offered to pay for the  damage that they had caused.  I can now see 20/30 to 20/40 with a gas-permeable contact lens.  The multiple images, glare, and ghosting that existed prior to the transplant are now almost completely gone.

In spite of Dr. Machat's failed experiment, he still continues to promote lasik as a method to treat PRK complications.  Dr. Machat has stated that "Our goal will be to enhance all eyes with LASIK, even when the original procedure was not LASIK".