Walter Cronkite narrates this examination of the history of refractive surgery, exploring how the LASIK procedure has become the most frequently performed elective surgery today. The program traces the beginnings of refractive surgery through archival footage, showing its origins as a secret weapon worked on by the Japanese prior to World War II. From the 1950s to less than 50 years later, rapid medical and technological discoveries occurred in Russia, Colombia, Italy and the United States, allowing refractive surgeons to operate on healthy eyes and produce vastly improved vision within a matter of minutes, even seconds. Though 1.35 million LASIK procedures were performed in the United States during 2001, resulting in 85 percent of patients achieving 20/20 or better vision, this six-minute operation remains controversial.