KATHRYN TUNSTALL APPOINTED TO STAAR SURGICAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS Appointment Expands Board to Seven Members MONROVIA, CA

TUNSTALL APPOINTED TO STAAR SURGICAL

Appointment Expands Board to Seven Members

CA, January 30, 2014 -- STAAR Surgical Company (NASDAQ: STAA), a leading developer, manufacturer and marketer of implantable lenses

for the eye, today announced the appointment of Kathryn Tunstall to its Board of Directors. Ms. Tunstall brings nearly 40 years

of leadership experience in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry, most recently serving for the past 13 years as Chairman

of Conceptus, Inc., a developer, maker, and marketer of medical devices for women. In 2013 Conceptus was acquired by Bayer AG for

$1.1 billion. Her appointment expands the number of directors to seven.

"Kathryn is an accomplished, well-respected, thought leader

in the health care industry with a proven track record of building shareholder value. Her complementary background and passion

for innovative medical technology makes her an excellent addition to our board. Kathryn's own personal experience led to

her understanding of the value the Internet can bring to medical devices and we look forward to adding this knowledge to our board,"

said Randy Meier, Chairman of STAAR's Nominating Committee.

addition to her position as Chairman of Conceptus, Ms. Tunstall served as the company's first President and Chief Executive

Officer from 1993-2000. During her tenure with Conceptus, the company achieved a number of major milestones, including an expedited

FDA approval of the first non-surgical female permanent contraceptive device and twice being recognized as one of Silicon Valley's

fastest growing companies.

"I'm very impressed with STAAR's competitive

positioning, innovation, and management's drive to successfully bring superior refractive technologies to the worldwide market.

In recent years the Company has made exceptional progress and is on the verge of a very positive transformation. The increased

strength of the balance sheet and current operating leverage, as well as the strong pipeline of new products, presents an exciting

opportunity for the Company to increase shareholder value," said Ms. Tunstall.

to joining Conceptus in 2000, Ms. Tunstall served for seven years in executive leadership roles with Baxter International, most

recently as President of the Company's Edwards Less Invasive Surgery Division. She also spent more than 12 years in various

marketing, finance and operational roles with divisions of American Hospital Supply, including McGaw Laboratories, a division that

manufactured and sold medical equipment and disposable supplies. She received her B.A. in Economics from the University of California-

Ms. Tunstall's prior corporate governance experience includes

both private and public boards. She currently serves on the board of Auxogyn, Inc., a venture-backed medical technology company

focused on women's reproductive health. Ms. Tunstall previously served as chairman of two private development-stage companies

she co-founded; Fair Advantage Inc., a development-stage educational company and HopeLink Corporation, an information solutions

company for improving new product development efforts in the bio-pharmaceutical industry by locating and enrolling patients in

treatment trials. Ms. Tunstall also served as a director, chair of the compensation committee and the audit committee for Caliper

Life Sciences, a publicly-traded provider of leading-edge technologies enabling researchers to create medicines and diagnostic

tests more quickly and efficiently. Caliper was acquired by PerkinElmer in 2011 for $600 million.

STAAR also announced today that Don M. Bailey, the Company's

Chairman of the Board since 2005, is turning over the chairman's role to Mark Logan in a planned transition. "During

the past few years, the management team at STAAR has well executed on its plan to generate value for the Company's shareholders.

I'm very proud to have been a part of this progress, which now presents an opportune time for me to transition from the Chair position

while still remaining a director," said Mr. Bailey.

was appointed to the STAAR board in 2010 and serves as the Chair of the Compensation Committee. He has 35 years of executive level

experience in the health care products industry and is currently co-founder and President and CEO of TearSolutions, L.L.C. Mr.

Logan also serves as a non-executive Director at VIVUS, Inc., as a member of the board at the University of Virginia Heart &

Vascular Center, as a director of Public Policy Virginia, Inc. and as a trustee of the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Logan served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of VISX, Inc. from 1994 to 2001. VISX was acquired by Advanced Medical Optics,

and subsequently by Abbott Laboratories in 2009. Prior to joining VISX, he was Chairman and CEO of Insmed Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,

and served as a principal at McManus Associates, a healthcare research and management firm, whose clients included Merck, Bristol

Myers Squibb and American Diabetes Association. Mr. Logan was also Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and board

member at Bausch & Lomb. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree

in Biology from Hiram College. He was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at New York University and has a PMD from Harvard University.

The search for Ms. Tunstall was conducted by Spencer Stuart,

a worldwide leader in director search and other board advisory services for more than 25 years.

About STAAR Surgical

STAAR, which has been dedicated solely to ophthalmic surgery

for over 25 years, designs, develops, manufactures and markets implantable lenses for the eye and delivery systems therefor. All

of these lenses are foldable, which permits the surgeon to insert them through a small incision. STAAR's lens used in refractive

surgery as an alternative to LASIK is called an Implantable Collamer Lens or "ICL." A lens used to replace the

natural lens after cataract surgery is called an intraocular lens or "IOL." Over 400,000 Visian ICLs have been implanted

to date; to learn more about the ICL go to: www.visianinfo.com. STAAR has approximately

300 full time employees and markets lenses in over 60 countries. Headquartered in Monrovia, CA, it manufactures in the following

locations: Nidau, Switzerland; Aliso Viejo, CA; and Monrovia, CA. For more information, please visit the Company's website at

All statements in this press release that are not statements

of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including statements about any of the following: any projections of financial

items; the potential future performance of the company or prospects for achieving such potential future performance; and statements

regarding expectations for future success. Important additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from

those indicated by such forward-looking statements are set forth in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year

ended December 28, 2012, under the caption "Risk Factors," which is on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission

and available in the "Investor Information" section of the company's website under the heading "SEC Filings."

These statements are based on expectations and assumptions as

of the date of this press release and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ

materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.