by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Mark Cohen

Age: Under 95

Occupation: Ophthalmologist/entrepreneur

Bio: This industrious Old Montreal heartbreaker has been "fascinated with myopia" ever since his days as a high school student back in scenic Chomedey, Laval. Even as an 18-year-old med student in the late 1980s, when laser eye surgery was largely regarded as "science fiction," Mark recognized that this was the future of ophthalmology and where the smart man might want to focus his academic energies. So, after a short, and one can only imagine painless, 11 full years of med school, in 1998 he and his partner launched Lasik MD, which today has eight clinics across the country and is said to be doing gangbuster business zapping people's eyes back into shape for 'em. Rumoured to be a bitchin' basketball player, he drives a spanking new Audi S4, wears Hugo Boss cologne, and holds the distinction of being the youngest doctor in Canada, if not the world, to have performed excimer laser eye surgery.

What he figures his education cost him: "About $200,000, not including living expenses and missed opportunities while I was studying."

The cost of a laser eye surgery machine: Roughly $500,000 (U.S.).

How long the average surgery takes: Generally less than five minutes per eye.

If he/she had access to the equipment, could an astute monkey be trained to perform this surgery? "Well, he would have to be a pretty smart monkey with superior technical skills, and it would probably take quite a lot of practice. You're handling tissue which is about 100 microns [1/10th of a millimetre] in thickness, so you have to cut just perfectly. People expect at a minimum to see as well as they did with their contact lenses before surgery, so there's really not a great margin of error."

Approximately how many patients inquire about the likelihood of being permanently blinded by the operation: Roughly 50 per cent. "It used to be greater but now the vast majority of patients come through word of mouth so their level of confidence is much higher."

Their chances of going blind: About one in a million. "You would have to have a severe infection before anything like that could happen."

Has Dr. Cohen performed one million surgeries yet, and has anybody he's operated on gone blind? No and no. "I've performed about 25,000 of these operations now and never had an infection, let alone a serious infection."

Something you probably didn't know: That Canada is a world leader when it comes to laser eye surgery. "This isn't well known among Canadians, but in the international medical community, Canada is considered a pioneer in the field. Our clinic in Montreal is the busiest in North America. We get people coming to us from all over the world."

Fave restaurant: La Queue de Cheval.

Musical preferences: Moby, Stan Getz.

Does he ever smoke reefer? "I plead the fifth."

Fave TV show: Sex and the City.

Last book read: The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho.

Comments? dimwit@openface.ca