At first suburbanites at the mall were taken aback as they witnessed the eye surgeries through a 30-foot window or on a big-screen TV at Johnson’s clinic. Now they tend to gather at the center, just across from a LensCrafters store, to see who’s in the chair.

That’s exactly the point. Combining the latest trends in corrective eye surgery with mainstream America’s natural voyeurism is the aim of Johnson, who also maintains a traditional ophthalmology practice in Leesburg. Last year he began the country’s first mall-based laser surgery center at Fair Oaks. He has since expanded to malls in Columbia and Gaithersburg in Maryland, as well as one near Chicago. Johnson was unavailable for an interview but has said that letting people watch spotlights "the relative simplicity and brevity of the procedure."

Johnson’s odd bit of marketing and infotainment seems to work. It conveys two messages: First, that laser surgery, once considered controversial and suspect, is safe. And second, that it’s also readily available. The concept has garnered media attention from The Washington Post and MSNBC, which is where Broughton found out about him. Myles Weiner, CEO of Visual Freedom Center, puts it this way: "This is a specialized retail business. We are selling a service we can grow market by market." Several other ophthalmologists have jumped on the idea and opened mall locations in other cities.

Johnson knows how to keep a crowd engrossed. At Fair Oaks Mall, if there are no live procedures to watch, there’s always a surgical video playing. An interactive kiosk lets the curious punch in information to see if they are potential candidates for the surgery, which costs $1,475 per eye. "People go to hospitals, clinics and surgery centers when they have an illness or trauma. This surgery is for people who are healthy," Weiner says. "What’s important is the psychology. People understand that if we are willing to let someone watch the surgery, it must be safe."

Johnson’s clinics back up that claim. He recently began offering qualified patients a guarantee of 20/20 vision. Broughton, for example, was back at the mall for a second round of treatment when her vision only reached 20/25 and 20/30 after the first operation. Today, with perfect vision, she finds her golf game improved and says she doesn’t miss carrying glass cases and contact paraphernalia when she goes on a trip.