A detached retina is a serious condition, but Lawrence Jones is in good hands after his successful procedure this March. While he focuses on his post-surgery vision care, his Fox News family and fans are rallying behind him for a speedy recovery.

Lawrence Jones dealt with eye troubles the majority of his life — needing glasses, contact lenses and even LASIK (laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis) surgery over the years. But in late 2025, the Fox & Friends co-host started having more noticeable difficulties, specifically with his right eye.

“I just thought my vision just wasn’t being the best,” he tells PEOPLE, admitting that seeing a doctor about it never really crossed his mind.

“I think it’s just men being men,” he explains. “I’m a pretty holistic person who really just focuses on trying to avoid the typical ways of medicine. Many of us, I think, avoid doctors’ offices in general. I’m not that extreme, but I just didn’t think it was necessary for me to go.”

It wasn’t until December that Jones decided to visit a doctor. While celebrating his 33rd birthday, his friend’s wife encouraged him to visit a specialist. The political commentator says he had free time ahead of the Christmas holiday and said, “Why not?”

“It couldn’t be that bad,” he thought. “Lemme just check it off the list.”

“And I’m glad I did because it ended up being something more serious,” he recalls. “I went in for the appointment and three hours later, they told me that I had a retina detachment and they wanted me to get surgery done as soon as possible.”

A retinal detachment is a painless but serious eye condition when the retina, the layer of tissue in the back of the eye, detaches from the tissues that support it, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Symptoms include seeing flashes of light, spots in your vision (eye floaters), blurred vision and darkening of peripheral vision. The condition is an emergency that can lead to blindness if not treated.

“Ever since they told me, I’ve been trying to rack my head around it,” Jones says of his diagnosis. “Did something happen in Jiu-Jitsu? Did I get elbowed in the eye playing basketball? I kept asking my doctors to give me different scenarios where this could’ve happened.”

Jones doesn’t know what singular event caused the medical emergency, but doctors told him that even “something slight” could have led to his vision problems.

Following his doctor’s orders, Jones underwent eye surgery to repair his retina in mid-January.

For the first two weeks after surgery, any type of sunlight felt “horrible” on his eyes. He dealt with some swelling and admits that “it didn’t look visually pleasant,” but says he’s now feeling better than ever.

“I’m doing well,” he says. “Right now it actually feels okay based on some of the horror stories I’ve heard from other people.”

“I’m four weeks out, so I consider myself really blessed,” he adds.

Jones praises his support system, especially his Fox & Friends colleagues, for their support as he took time off to recover. “You know who your real friends are and who really supports you in moments like this. And they’ve been super supportive of me,” he boasts.

However, while he continues to heal, Jones decided to return to work and just be transparent about what he was going through.

“Obviously, I would like to be fully healed, but it’s a process,” he explains. “I kind of made the decision that it’s okay for the audience to see this healing journey. I think there’s just something about letting the audience see your raw, true self, even when you’re not at the top of your game.”

Jones admits that just briefly sharing his experience on-air led to him getting numerous messages from viewers who said his story pushed them to get their eyes checked out. And that’s the outcome he’d hoped for.

“I’m normally pretty private with my personal life. But as much as I love to be private, if this could help someone or raise awareness, I didn’t want to be a barrier between me potentially helping someone else,” he explains.

Doctors told Jones that it’ll take months before he is fully healed, but his vision is already improving.

“It’s gonna take a while for everything to be rebooted, fully healed and working the way it should be,” he tells PEOPLE. “I will say that my vision in my right eye is actually better than before the surgery, so that is a good thing.”

source: people