PREVIEW-LASIK industry braces for U.S. FDA meeting

* April 25 FDA advisory meeting on LASIK

* Industry wary of the outcome

* Patient stories to be heard

By Susan Heavey

WASHINGTON, April 22 (Reuters) - The laser eye surgery industry is steeling itself ahead of a Friday meeting expected to draw complaints from patients with blurred vision and other complications of a popular vision procedure.

Millions of patients have hailed the LASIK procedure for freeing them from glasses or contact lenses, but others have have become a vocal bloc railing against the surgery, citing everything from dry eye to surgical gaffes that left scarring.

Those complaints are set to be the focus of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration public meeting over patient satisfaction with LASIK, or laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis.

The FDA is seeking the advice from a panel of outside experts about issues surrounding patients' experiences after the procedure.

"Industry is very concerned about this," said Glenn Hagele, head of a patient referral group, the Council for Refractive Surgery Quality Assurance.