The health care markets are working as demand for eye surgeries falls as the economy weakens, the NY Times reports.

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“We’re forecasting a 17 percent drop for 2008,” said David Harmon, president of Market Scope, an eye surgery market research house.

Mr. Harmon said that when first-quarter data becomes available next month, he expects it to show an even sharper decline in Lasik surgeries than in 2001. That time around, the sour economy led to a three-year slump in the laser procedures, which are typically not covered by insurance.

Lasik — for laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis — typically costs anywhere from $800 to $3,000 or more per eye.