Are the lasik eyes of Tiger Woods akin to steroid enhancement?

I now have the eyes of the tiger…Tiger Woods that is!

It’s now about two weeks since lasik surgery has been successfully performed on my peepers and I must admit, it feels as if it happened a lifetime ago.

Even with the new technology of intralase bladeless lasik versus the original Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis, I still chose the original procedure. The price was much more reasonable and I figured that the surgeon (and the VISX machine) would have already had plenty of experience carving that microkeratome into my baby browns.

Barry got the opportunity to watch as the operation was televised. The short procedure lasted only about 5-6 minutes for both eyes. Ah, I feel so fortunate to be living in this day and age where I can walk into a room with 20/150 vision and saunter out with 20/20 or better!

Tiger Woods underwent the same operation in 1999 when there was no laser to create the flap and had several enhancements since then to achieve optimum vision (he’s at 20/15 right now). I wonder if I, too, will be able to improve my golf game as he has done. Early in his career, when he was blind as a bat, Tiger Woods was hardly as consistent as he is today. Can he attribute part of his post-lasik phenomenal streak of five consecutive tour wins (and the next four major tournaments beginning with the 2000 U.S. Open) to his treatment? I hope so, for if he can, then so can I!

Several articles that I came across suggested that such enhancements are similar to steroid use and should not be available to athletes but I don’t agree. Steroid use is illegal (except under a doctor’s care). It is hardly illegal for me to wear contact lenses to bring my vision up to 20/20 (or to wear glasses for the same effect) versus injecting something into my body to “pump me up". However, the “gray area” comes about as athletes improve their vision beyond what is considered “normal". Herein lies the conundrum.

Should it be deemed “illegal” for an athlete to achieve “better than normal results"? Tiger Woods can now “see details at twenty feet that a person with normal sight could only see at fifteen feet” with his new “bionic vision", so it certainly can be considered performance enhancing.

Many athletes and celebrities have had lasik surgery while I just waited it out, hoping that the price point would meet my burgeoning budget. Most of these athletes didn’t have to pay for it either, relying on their celebrity status as a trade-off with the company offering the surgery. My current renown did not afford such a luxury!

I wonder how many of these athletes will openly declare that an improvement in their game was due to lasik enhancement?

I haven’t had the opportunity to get out to the golf course but I have been practicing in the house with my Umbrella Plus. I noticed that my focus has improved while looking at a dimple on the golf ball (and I dunked a few into the pocket) but am really longing for the excitement of watching that pink Pinnacle CLR golf ball head straight down the fairway and being able to follow my 235-yard drive until it lands.

Will my new lasik enhanced eyes now help my score settle in the 80’s (where it should be) or is my score simply a product of my confidence level? When Barry puts on his glasses at the range he doesn’t necessarily hit any straighter or longer.

Anyway, thanks to Dr. Stetson and associates from Diamondvision who were extremely professional in their bedside manner. It’s great to wake up every morning and not have to reach for those glasses anymore!