Interesting perspective.
LASIK treats a medical condition which happens to also improve performance (although not really any differently than contact lenses or eye glasses). EPO, steroids, growth hormones, amphetamines, homologous blood transfusions, et cetera are not used to treat a medical condition, but solely to improve performance and/or recovery.
I dunno… EPO is given to cancer patients who have low red blood cell counts. Growth hormones to very small (relative to their peers) children. They definitely treat a medical condition.
If you have 20/20 vision and get Lasik, is that the same as someone with normal hematocrit levels taking EPO? I can see how it could be considered the same.
Almost any PED (or Performance Enhancing Procedure, I guess we have to include now) came out of the need to help people who were/are sick. But then athletes say “if it can make a sick person healthy, imagine what it does for a healthy person.” How many pitchers in baseball would undergo Tommy John surgery if it could make their arms BETTER than before? I bet a lot. What if cosmetic surgery was used to GIVE someone webbed fingers and toes instead of correcting it and they smashed all kinds of swimming records…
What’s gonna be really sad is when some 12 year old kid with perfect vision and crazed parents gets LASIK for little league and goes blind as a result. I pray that never happens, but I think it probably will…
I heard about a parent of a little leaguer that asked a doctor to preform a Cur-Schilling-esque surgery on his kid so that he could play in a regular season little league game. That is messed up…
And to ask another question, what about altitude training. Is that just the eye glasses:LASIK analogy for EPO (i.e. altitude:EPO as contacts/glasses:LASIK)?
Just throwing stuff out there… People here always have great stuff to say on these topics…
I’m sorry, I don’t have any trouble distinguishing between Lasik and EPO/steroids. At some point the line can get blurred, but that comparison didn’t approach the line for me. Should people with broken arms be required to leave them unset? But, as a gesture of good faith, I won’t brush my teeth for a week before my next event. Wouldn’t want an unfair advantage…
It’as not how fast you are, it’s how fast you look…but…if they can smell you down wind you lose major style points buddy.
Does that mean I shouldn’t wear my maroon Zoot suit? 
“I dunno… EPO is given to cancer patients who have low red blood cell counts. Growth hormones to very small (relative to their peers) children. They definitely treat a medical condition.”
Low RBC count as the result of cancer treatment is a medical condition that requires EPO. Wanting to ride your bike faster is not a medical condition. My point was that these pro athletes do not possess the medical need for EPO, et cetera.
Didn’t they used to say if Mark Allen saw you, you were in his ‘grip’ and you were bound to be caught?
Did he by any chance have LASIK?
I want his 6 IM titles revoked.
ninja edit for mojojo: i know they didn’t have lasik back then, so shut your mouth.
Did they even have electricity back then???
But “bad” eyesight is not so strict as cancer. No doctor ever says “you need” LASIK. So how to draw the line?
What if your RBC at the equivalent level of 20/40 vision, could you then take EPO and bring it up to the equivalent of 20/15? Is that cheating if LASIK to do the same is not?
What if an athlete really did have narcolepsy; should he/she be allowed to take Modafonil (the stimulant a bunch of sprinters got caught taking).
What if Lance Armstrong was taking EPO and claimed he was just taking it to keep his RBC at where it had been pre-cancer level. What would be the ruling on that?
Just question fodder…
As I said, the existance of a bona fide medical condition is the only justification I see for taking what is otherwise an prescription-only drug.
“What if your RBC at the equivalent level of 20/40 vision, could you then take EPO and bring it up to the equivalent of 20/15? Is that cheating if LASIK to do the same is not?”
Poor vision is a medical condition. It’s treatable with contacts, glasses or LASIK. Some methods are more convenient than others, but you’re not gonna get x-ray vision regardless of which treatment method you choose. Having slightly lower-than-normal RBC is not a medical condition, as these values can vary significantly from person to person.
“What if Lance Armstrong was taking EPO and claimed he was just taking it to keep his RBC at where it had been pre-cancer level. What would be the ruling on that?”
Lance no longer has a medical condition that requires EPO treatment.