The one thing that has stopped me isn’t cost, but the relative risks of serious/permanent side effects. If LASIK generates an issue (dry eyes, pain, inaccurate correction) it’s basically permanent. If contacts are an issue, take them out or swap the brand/prescription. I just couldn’t gamble my vision on the outcome of LASIK.

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jdeibele 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

There are the risks you mention plus 3 things that I've heard:

1) You lose any close-up vision that you have. I take off my glasses to read things like books or my phone. Hmmm. Verifying this, Google says you could ask for one eye to be set to see close and the other far https://www.eyecenteroftexas.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/... says that if you don't do that than you will lose near vision.

2) There's more problems with oncoming headlights at night blurring your vision or causing halos. This may only last for 6 months to a couple of years at worst.

3) It's not permanent. At some point you'll need glasses again. https://ophthalmology.wustl.edu/does-lasik-last-forever-unde... says 10-20 years before you need to correct your vision again or a lifetime if you're lucky.

	▲	fy20 3 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I've been wearing glasses for 20 years (myopia and astigmatism, can't see shit without them) and these are the things that put me off, the small risks and non-permanence don't really seem worth it. If I do sports I wear daily disposable contact lenses, so glasses don't get in my way. My plan is to wait until refractive lens replacement (basically the same as cataract surgery) becomes a bit more mainstream option and do that. Artificial lenses last longer than the eyes natural lenses and supposedly never need replacement - although I'm not sure how much of that data is from the typical older person who has cataract surgery.
	▲	eudamoniac 3 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		1 is obviously non universal. You don't "lose" anything, but the nature of a lens is that it becomes harder, though completely possible, to focus up close afterwards, unless you're old and already can't with glasses. You can test yourself to see what would happen. Wearing your nearsighted glasses, can you still read a book? You'll notice it is harder than without them. If so, then you still can after LASIK.

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bsder 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> I just couldn’t gamble my vision on the outcome of LASIK.

Perfectly reasonable. However, do know that modern versions of the procedure are way better at identifying the people who are likely to have problems.

However, even if the odds are 1 in 10,000, there is always a "1".

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rationalist 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

True, 99% of people experiencing no negative side-effects does mean that 1% do experience negative side-effects.

I think religiously-following the pre-operating and post-operation instructions is very important, and making sure eye health before the procedure is good enough.

I imagine dry eyes wouldn't be any more inconvenient than having to deal with contacts (and having worse vision without the contacts).