Door prizes, Valium, pink pigs lure laser eye patients

Laser eye surgery: Is it for you?

December 7, 1999
Web posted at: 10:12 p.m. EST (0312 GMT)

By Correspondent Jeanne Moos

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Bye bye, glasses. So long, contacts. These days many doctors only have eyes for laser surgery. To woo potential patients, laser eye surgeons are using everything from door prizes to refreshments.

Many famous visually challenged people have had the procedure, from supermodel Cindy Crawford to Atlanta Braves pitcher Greg Maddux. So have plenty of regular folks.

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But with complaints of burning smells and comparisons to a demented eye-surgery scene in the movie "A Clockwork Orange," doctors have offered a variety of palliatives to ease the jitters, everything from Valium to a stuffed pink pig.

Should you join the visually liberated? One man threw his glasses off a bridge. Another broke up with his girlfriend, which she blamed on his new eyes. Perhaps the opinion of Al D'Amato can help make up your mind. The former U.S. senator is considering the procedure too.

Watch Correspondent Jeanne Moos' eyewitness report.