Police officer dies by suicide after suffering complications from Lasik eye surgery, parents say

PITTSBURGH (WPXI) - Those who knew 26-year-old Ryan Kingerski all agreed he was full of life.

“He was charismatic, loving, funny, witty,” his mother, Stefanie Kingerski, ed. “He was a police officer at Penn Hills, loved his job more than anything.”

Ryan Kingerski’s parents, twin brother, girlfriend, co-workers and children in the community all loved him. He loved them back, honored to serve and protect in Penn Hills.

“He often said he would do it for free. He was very proud of it,” Stefanie Kingerski said.

Ryan Kingerski’s parents, Stefanie and Tim Kingerski, who miss him desperately, now feel the need to share what happened on Jan. 26. That’s the day their son died by suicide.

It took place just five months after having an elective surgery, one that generally takes seconds to complete.

“Twelve seconds. Twelve seconds was what it took for him to have his surgery. That took his life away from him,” Tim Kingerski said.

In August 2024, Ryan Kingerski had Lasik surgery at Lasik Plus in Pittsburgh.

“He took his glasses off and handed it to me and said, ‘I won’t need these anymore,’” Tim Kingerski said.

Ryan Kingerski’s parents said things changed quickly and complications from the surgery started immediately.

“On the ride home, he kept saying about how, ‘Something’s not right with my right eye,’” Tim Kingerski ed. “And I said, ‘What do you mean?’ And he said, ‘It’s very foggy. I can’t really see out of it, and the pain in my head.’”

The pain and blurriness got worse, and then came the relentless migraines.

Ryan Kingerski’s family said he was supposed to go back to work in a few days, but was never able to.

In the fall, Ryan Kingerski began sharing his story.

He posted on social media about the side effects from his procedure, leaving Lasik Plus a negative review on Nov. 18.

“On Nov. 19, we got a letter from Lasik Plus saying that they would no longer see him as a patient,” Tim Kingerski said.

“All he wanted to do was just to get back to work and live a normal life,” Stefanie Kingerski added.

“He agreed to have it because it was supposed to make his life better,” Tim Kingerski replied.

Dr. Morris Waxler is the former science manager on the Lasik team at the FDA.

Waxler says Lasik statistics are misleading and patients aren’t informed of the dangerous risks.

“What are those serious effects? Irremediable pain, constant itchiness of the cornea, can’t drive at night, can’t see details. These are not small matters,” Waxler said.

The company Lasik Plus responded with a statement, saying, “The safety and effectiveness of Lasik is established by a large body of peer-reviewed clinical data, more than 7,000 individual studies over the past 25 years. Lasik is a safe and effective correction option for those patients who are medical candidates.”

The FDA says it’s important for doctors to do a thorough evaluation of patients to ensure they’re good candidates because Lasik is an option for everyone.

The Kingerskis say that’s the case with their son.

“The note he had left that says, ‘I can’t take it anymore. Lasik did this to me,’” Tim Kingerski said.

Now, Ryan Kingerski’s parents want to use this tragedy to advocate and warn others.

“We posted Ryan’s story on Instagram. We posted Ryan’s story on TikTok,” Tim Kingerski said. “Seven million people have viewed his story, and the amount of people that have reached out to us to say, ‘I was considering it. Now I’m not.’”

Through grief and determined to fight for change, the Kingerskis are wishing their son was the one to lead this cause.

“He deserved better. He should be here. He should be telling the story,” Tim Kingerski said.

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