“I don’t think I ever understood how profoundly something that was supposed to be a simple, elective procedure could affect my life,” Hayden Hutchins tells PEOPLE
NEED TO KNOW
- Hayden Hutchins grew up in Charlotte, N.C., and is now pursuing optometry after experiencing serious complications following laser eye surgery
- His symptoms left him with severe chronic eye pain and sent him on a years-long search for answers and treatment
- Now, the 24-year-old hopes to use his experience as a patient to bring greater empathy and understanding to the field of eye care
At just 21 years old, Hayden Hutchins thought laser eye surgery would make his life easier as he prepared for the LSAT and planned for law school following years of eyesight issues. Instead, he says the procedure left him with relentless eye pain, vision problems, and a diagnosis of corneal neuralgia that would reshape nearly every part of his life.
What followed was a years-long search for relief, more than $10,000 in treatments, countless doctors and a period when Hutchins says he struggled to imagine making it through another day. Now, three years later, Hutchins is beginning optometry school in Bloomington, Ind., and turning an experience he never would have chosen into a reason to help other patients feel heard.
“Honestly, I hope to bring something unique to optometry through my experience as the patient,” Hutchins tells PEOPLE exclusively…