Whitten in the News

LASIK Surgeon Dr. Mark Whitten Joins St. Mary’s Hospital

St. Mary’s Hospital is pleased to announce the addition of Dr. Mark Whitten to its medical staff and Eye Physicians of St. Mary’s practice in Charlotte Hall, Md. Dr. Whitten, a board-certified ophthalmologist and one of the first eye surgeons in the United States to perform the groundbreaking LASIK surgery, will provide patients with the latest in vision correction procedures, featuring state-of-the-art LASIK, cataract and implant lens surgery, as well as general ophthalmology consultations.

Eyes of the Tiger: Tiger Woods- LASIK laser eye surgery

Before laser eye surgery, Woods without contact lenses could barely see past his own shadow, and Bermuda grain was easier to read than the big “E” at the top of the eye chart. “He had what I call ‘counting fingers vision,’ ” says Whitten. “He could only count my fingers a foot from his face.”

Eye Physicians of St. Mary’s

Dr. Whitten has more than 30 years of eye care and surgical experience and is one of only three surgeons in the country to have performed more than 100,000 LASIK procedures – an outpatient procedure to treat nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism using a laser to reshape the patient’s cornea.

Throw Away Your Glasses?

Whitten is perhaps the best-known LASIK surgeon in the area-and one of the busiest in the country. He does about 800 to 1,000 eyes per month, and has operated on professional athletes including golfers Tiger Woods and Fred Funk.

Testimonial for Mark E. Whitten, M.D.

“This was the best thing I have ever done for myself.” I am a 22 year old military male. I checked with several Northern Virginia laser eye centers. Whitten Laser Eye, in my opinion, where the most professional and courteous.

Eyes of the Tiger: Tiger Woods – LASIK laser eye surgery

“I won’t embarrass the guy by saying who it was,” says Dr. Mark Whitten, the Rockville, Md.-based ophthalmologist who has performed laser eye surgery on close to 60 players from the PGA, LPGA and senior tours, “but he came all the way out here just certain that there was something wrong with his vision.”

Eye Physicians of St. Mary’s

Dr. Mark Whitten, a board-certified ophthalmologist and one of the first eye surgeons in the United States to perform the groundbreaking LASIK surgery, provides the latest in vision correction procedures, featuring state-of-the-art LASIK, cataract and implant lens surgery, as well as general ophthalmology consultations.

The Better To See

After the 20-minute procedure, performed by Whitten, Woods walked away with 20/15 eyesight–slightly better than what ophthalmologists consider perfect. And coincidence or not, Woods won the next five tournaments he entered. Since the surgery, he has 56 PGA Tour victories.

Tiger Woods Lasik Surgery | Tiger Woods’ Lasik Doctor

“From Tiger Woods on down, professional golf is filled with success stories of Lasik eye surgery. Woods, whose natural vision was so poor that he couldn’t see the big E on the eye chart, went under the laser in 1999, won five straight tournaments and (for $2 million) promptly endorsed the center [the TLC Laser Eye Center in Rockville, Maryland] that performed the operation.”