OPINION: A botched surgery took my vision. I don’t want New Mexicans to face the same risks.

When it comes to eye surgery, there is no room for error since the consequences can be devastating and life-altering. Therefore, you want to be sure the person operating on you is highly trained, went to medical school and is qualified to do the operation safely.

Unfortunately, a growing number of patients are learning the person doing the surgery has laughably little training. Only medical doctors should be allowed to perform eye surgery, but some states have watered down safe surgery protections — and New Mexico may soon be added to the list.

As a proud member of the Choctaw Nation living in rural Oklahoma — one of the outlier states that permit optometrists to perform laser eye surgery on live patients after just a long weekend’s worth of training — I’m sharing my story as a warning to my New Mexico neighbors. I’m especially worried for fellow Native Americans who already face disproportionately high rates of retinopathy, cataracts, visual impairment and blindness.

Unlike ophthalmologists, optometrists are not medical doctors or surgeons. They are valuable members of the eye care team who are trained in diagnosing basic conditions and prescribing corrective lenses. But, despite what some may say in Santa Fe, optometrists simply do not have the years of medical education and rigorous clinical training needed to perform laser eye surgery safely. Lawmakers must oppose any legislation that would lower standards and increase the risks of patients suffering dangerous complications.

As a victim of an irreversible botched surgery at the hand of an optometrist, I know better than anyone the high stakes involved.

After developing a cloudy film behind the lens implant in my right eye, I had a surgical procedure called a YAG capsulotomy — which involves a powerful laser — performed by an optometrist. At the time, I had no idea that optometrists are prohibited from doing laser eye surgery in around 40 states. I never could have imagined that permanent damage to my sight would be the cost I had to pay.

During my operation, I could sense the optometrist lacked knowledge about the surgery, admitted it wasn’t going well, and put a patch over my eye — something I now know is atypical for this procedure. A follow-up scan revealed the laser had irreversibly damaged the center of my retina, causing me to have a black dot in my central vision as the result of burns to my eye. When I went in for surgery, I had 20/20 vision in that eye — now it is 20/500. Due to this surgery, combined with a retinal detachment I suffered during a surgery on my left eye, I am now legally blind.

It is devastating to think that this all may have been prevented if I had just seen an ophthalmologist (a medical doctor and surgeon specially trained in treating conditions of the eye) instead of an optometrist.

I am, sadly, not the only patient who has experienced damaging complications from optometrists being allowed to perform eye surgery without adequate training. A “weekend warrior” training course — often held in a hotel ballroom setting — will never be adequate to master these delicate operations.

Research shows significantly higher rates of adverse outcomes from laser surgeries performed by optometrists compared to those done by ophthalmologists. Eye operations require the expertise ophthalmologists gained over a decade of medical school education, training, and residency (after finishing their undergraduate studies). Optometry school is not a suitable equivalent. I’m hopeful that the silver lining in the dark cloud of my sad story is warning others about the dangers involved in letting anyone other than a medical doctor perform laser eye surgery. No patient — especially those from vulnerable populations — should have to experience the same risks and disastrous outcomes I went through, especially when they are so easily prevented. Unfortunately, House Bill 36 recently passed the New Mexico House of Representatives. Lawmakers in the Senate now have to opportunity to uphold safe surgery standards and protect patients from suffering the same life-changing complications I experienced.

To protect New Mexicans’ vision, the state Senate must reject House Bill 36.