Of all of the physical senses, none is more important to most people than vision. Yet, for many centuries, people have had vision problems for a number of different reasons and efforts were made by some to find ways to cope.

The Roman philosopher Seneca, who live during the reign of Nero, wrote about using a glass bowl filled with water to help him read, as it magnified the print. Many years later, the glass bowl of water was replaced by a flat-bottomed convex glass sphere that was then laid over print, which acted like a magnifying glass. In the 12th century, Chinese judges were reported to have worn sunglasses made with smoky quartz.

Over time, more conventional corrective lenses were invented and of course, we all know that the venerable Benjamin Franklin invented the first pair of bifocal lenses. Over the next couple of centuries. Millions of people began wearing corrective lenses.

By the 1950s many people who wore glasses wanted to have improved vision without wearing glasses. A Japanese doctor developed a surgical technique to correct vision, but his attempts did not fair well with his patients. In the 1970s, Russian Doctor Fyodorov improved on the surgical technique that became known as radial keratotomy (RK). It didn’t take long for RK to be steadily improved and popular.

In the late 1980s, I had RK performed on both eyes and went from very strong glasses to not wearing glasses for nearly 7 years. RK is performed by making cuts into the outer surface of the cornea to reshape it to improve vision. however, RK leaves scars and my eye doctors today can still see those scars when they do an eye exam.

Around the 1970s, an IBM research by the name of Dr. Srinivasin discovered the ability to use lasers instead of a scalpel to correct vision. Over time, his discovery was improved to what we know now as LASIK surgery. LASIK became so popular that in 2015, there were over 1,000 LASIK centers in the US with about 3,250 doctors performing LASIK on about 21 million Americans.

Today, LASIK is extremely popular, but according to a former FDA adviser, the procedure should banned as reported:

For two decades LASIK eye surgery has been used to correct vision for millions of Americans, but now a former FDA adviser who voted to approve the procedure says it should be banned.

His reasoning is that Lasik can and has caused serious vision complications. A case in point is Paula Cofer, who underwent the surgery 19 years ago and wound up with vision that “was an absolute train wreck,” according to CBS News.

There are serious risks involved in the procedure, which is what retired FDA adviser Morris Waxler is concerned about. He initially voted to approve the laser eye surgery but years later, after re-examining the documentation, he realized just how serious the consequences can be.

“Essentially we ignored the data on vision distortions that persisted for years, he told CBS News. “I re-examined the documentation and I said, ‘Wow this is not good.'”

On its website, the FDA lists some of the risks involved in LASIK. The agency notes that patients could lose vision or “develop debilitating visual symptoms.”

After analyzing industry data, Waxler says he found the complication rates among patients reached up to 30%. In light of this, he tried to get the FDA to voluntarily recall LASIK but was unsuccessful. Waxler told CBS that the FDA dismissed his petition because it “has not found any new safety concerns associated with LASIK devices.”

Therefore, before you decide to under LASIK surgery with the hopes of improving your vision enough to toss you glasses or contacts, take time to check out the growing risks and complications that are being found with LASIK surgery.

After all, for many of us, our eyes are too important to needlessly risk.