LSAT Question Explanation
PT 108, Section 3, Question 17
ParadoxExplanation
The weird situation that we have to explain here is that RK is supposed to fix nearsightedness, rendering glasses and contacts unnecessary. However, some patients still need glasses or contacts after the RK surgery.
My immediate prediction is just that maybe the surgery doesn't always work in rendering glasses and contacts unnecessary.
Because this is an "except" question, four answer choices should explain why people still need the glasses/contacts and one answer choice will not explain it.
Answer choices
This would explain it. The surgery has an unintended consequence, leading to people needing glasses/contacts.
This explains the discrepancy by indicating that in severe cases of nearsightedness RK may not accomplish its goal of rendering glasses/contacts unnecessary.
Similar to (A), this shows an unintended consequence of the surgery that causes people to still need glasses/contacts.
Similar to (A) and (C), another unintended consequence of the surgery leading patients to need glasses/contacts.
This doesn't explain why some patients have to wear glasses/contacts after undergoing RK. It doesn't matter if some people with similar levels of nearsightedness choose to undergo RK and some don't, we need to explain why the surgery sometimes doesn't accomplish it's goal.