Unless things have changed, be sure you keep the little note they give you at the end that tells you your measurements. Supposedly if you end up needing another round later in life, it may be necessary to have those measurements. They apparently need to know exactly how much corneal tissue was there originally to know how much more they can remove.
And be sure you do your annual check-ups. The place where I had mine done guaranteed any follow-up procedures would be free for life, but only if I could show I'd been doing the annual check-ups.
That's about all I can remember. After the procedure, you go home and take a nap. For me, I woke up the next morning and could see clearly.
They reshape an area smaller than a fully dilated pupil, so night vision is affected because you're seeing light that passed through the corrected area and light that passed through the uncorrected area (and the boundary itself might mess things up in a more complicated way). Whether that sort of distortion is "worse" than entirely uncorrected vision is kind of subjective. Also, I think that effect diminishes with age because the pupil stops dilating as fully.
I had it done in late 2022. The doctor does close to zero work and it’s all in the laser. I called almost every lasik specialist in the city to figure out what laser they use and what their price is and then narrowed that list further with in person consultations. Don’t go for the absolute cheapest but there’s zero reason to pay quadruple.
At the time it was about $1k per eye and of course vision insurance sucks and won’t make a difference for lasik. My company even had a lasik benefit ($1k/eye) but the offices that worked through insurance cost $2.5k/eye.
If I recall correctly there’s three major laser brands and they’re on the fifth generation lasers. The buzzword at that time was waveform technology.
Overall it has been AMAZING and everyone should do it. Literally can’t express how wonderful it is to no longer need contracts or glasses. It’s probably paid for itself already as well but the quality of life improvements are worth it even if there was no break even point.
It's surprisingly automated. The best thing you can do for yourself is call every provider and ask exactly what model machine they will use. As long as the doctor isn't grossly negligent, the one using the most recent and advanced machine will be your best option.
Citation? It’s hard to find independent studies on LASIK since it’s big business, which is indeed a good cause for suspicion, but every follow-up survey I can find indicates net satisfaction in the 80-90+% range after 20 years, and the technology has massively improved so I’d expect the rate to go up even more over time.
If we’re doing anecdotes, my father got very early LASIK and is extremely happy he did, over 20 years later his vision is just starting to degrade again and he had only extremely minor halo issues (which are also less prevalent today due to the use of lasers instead of a knife to cut the eye open, leading to less scarring).
I’ve been considering laser eye surgery soon and it seems that all available technologies are decent. Based on my survey, SMILE>PRK>LASIK in terms of outcomes and risk, but SMILE works on a much more limited range of eye issues and PRK requires a somewhat lengthy and uncomfortable recovery period requiring time off work and caretaker support, so LASIK is still a good fallback option.
LASIK is well known to only be a short to mid-term solution. The eyes age like the rest of you, and any correction will eventually be outpaced by the natural weakening of your ocular muscles to the point where you can no longer pull focus and require glasses. Further correction is possible, but from what I remember being told by my doctor and my own reading, the bounce-back from the surgery is rougher as you age.
I know a few folks from college who got it done and a bit over decade later they're going strong. My own surgery is just about hitting a decade (couple of months shy). That said, I have a family friend who had bladed LASIK done in their 50s (late 2000s) and their outcome was bad with total loss of sight in the affected eye. The result on their other eye was barely an improvement but plenty of scarring lead to halos and starbursts.
I'm not who you asked, but my family and one of my friends were all the same.
My mom sees halos around lights at night, so much so that she can't drive after sunset. Her eyes are so dry that she gets plugs inserted into her tear ducts to help retain moisture.
My friend who had it done also has severe dry eyes, to the point that he constantly uses eye drops.
In all four cases I know of, the good vision only lasted a few years. Eventually, glasses will be needed again to keep 20/20 vision.
It's pretty common for your vision to revert somewhat back to needing glasses over the span of a couple years. Usually it's still better than it was but often natural aging and a bit of regression combined means you still wind up needing glasses. Took my friend about 5 years until he started needing some corrective lenses again.
My wife had PRK done on both eyes over a decade ago, and it was great. At the time, she had the choice between LASIK and PRK (I’m not sure that everybody has both options given their particular conditions). After reviewing the long-term prognosis and possible side effects of both, she went with PRK. It’s been a fantastic decision for her, but that just one person’s experience.
best 3 grand i ever spent. my vision was so bad prior I couldn't see the largest letter in the test and afterwards i felt like i could have gone a few levels past the smallest on the test with no issue. after 7 years and my last exam showed I still had 20/20 vision. I can relate with the night driving halos but I had trouble driving at night prior to it too so ymmv. waking up the night of the procedure and walking the dog it was like a whole new world of clarity with the amount of detail I could see of the leaves on the trees backlit by streetlights. the first month is a pain because you can't touch your eyes and you gotta wear goggles to sleep. and being able to see in the shower is pretty cool too.
This is something I am considering as well, so I am definitely interested in hearing feedback from other users that have gotten LASIK or have looked into it.
If it matters, I have slight astigmatism in both my eyes.
My cornea was too thin for lasik, they offered me ICL but it was like 13k vs 5k. And the surgery seems scarier. And apparently they had complaints about the previous generation ICL causing hightened corneal pressure, so the current one with a hole in the center is pretty new. I kept my contacts.
It’s cataract surgery. Apart from infection practically all the risks are lower than with LASIK. The principal downside is cost. (That said, I haven’t done it yet—I am on daily contacts.)
> ICL isn't generally available after the age of 45
It’s essentially cataract surgery, so not for safety reasons.
FDA doesn’t recommend it past 45, I believe, because if you have age-related eye degeneration ICL won’t help where LASIK might and because it’s most studied in the 21 to 45 age group. Would be surprised if a surgeon said no due to age alone.
