Laser eye surgery or contact lenses?

I had the surgery and LOVE it!!! I wore contacts for around 15 years. It is one of the best things I have done. I can swim and see at the same time, when I wake up in the morning I can see the clock without squinting and I don't have to mess with them anymore. One bad thing is that now when I chop onions my eyes tear up, before with my contacts my eyes were some what protected. Go for it!

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Ahhh...yes. Wouldn't it be great to get rid of those annoying indentation marks on your face or wake up and see your alarm clock without having to put on your glasses? Who wants to worry about putting in contacts every morning or taking them out every night before going to sleep? LASIK surgery can work wonders, but you are right to be cautious - any surgery has risks, and you should consider all the implications in your decision making. Risks include infection, inflammation and loss of vision, although there is only a small chance of these complications occurring. Additionally, some people experience increased difficulty with night vision after LASIK surgery, increased sensitivity to light, or dry eyes.

LASIK is a laser surgery that can correct myopia (nearsightedness), astigmatism and hyperopia (farsightedness). Essentially, doctors cut a flap in the cornea and use a laser to reshape the cornea. The entire procedure takes less than an hour, the recovery is minimal, and most patients notice that their vision dramatically improves over the next 24 hours.

It is important to note that experts recommend that routine LASIK surgery be performed only on people age 18 or older, and only when a person's vision has been stable for more than 12 months.

If you want to know whether LASIK is right for you, check out http://health.ivillage.com/eye/eyelasik/topics/0,,... you will find a bunch of articles as well as some videos you can watch to help you make your decision. My best advice - do your research: talk to people who have had the procedure, visit an eye doctor or two, and read up on the surgery. Good luck!

You have to weigh the pros and cons of each. Do your research on laser surgery. Tremendous leaps and bounds have been made in the last 10 years and, people often don't consider this...there are risks to wearing contacts. Very few, but there ARE risks.

I've had many, many friends undergo laser eye surgery and, in my opinion, if you find a reputable Dr., do your research, and are comfortable with any potential risks, laser surgery is the way to go. That's my $.02 worth. Hope it helps! :)

You'd do well to do as much research as you can on the laser procedure to find out if the benefits (and even possibility of downsides) outweigh the inconvenience of having to wear contacts and glasses.

I wear lenses and I understand how annoying it can be to have to deal with these things everyday just to be able to see: the problems involved (if they get dirty or ripped), the cleaning, the care and maintenance, having to replace them periodically, the costs involved, etc. And it never ends... although in most cases, if you take care of your eye gear and your eyes well, you shouldn't have too many problems with your eye health.

On the other hand, of course, there's laser surgery, which can essentially overnight, give you the vision that your lenses and contacts have always given you... without the lenses and contacts! :) That sounds great to me as well, just thinking about it. However, you do have to remember what comes with going for the procedure. It does cost a good deal (none of which, I believe, would be covered by any medical plan, as it's probably considered a cosmetic, or in any case voluntary, prodecure and not a medically necessary one). Also, though incidence of complication post-procedure is low overall (as far as I understand, and the majority of laser eye surgery patients report being really satisfied), there can always be complications, as every procedure and patient are different. And there's recovery time as well.

Definitely weigh those pros and cons, and most importantly do your research about the procedure, as well as on your potential eye surgeon. You'll want to make sure that he/she knows as much as possible about performing the procedure, has done the procedure successfully on lots of other patients before you. Example... you want to go for quality of procedure and doctor as opposed to going to a laser clinic offering some kind of 'special' ("two eyes for the price of one!") deal or something.... good luck!

first eye surgery and then contact lenses because lasers help right away and contacts you take off right before bed and you'd want something that works all day and there is no hassle you should try contacts later after you see what surgery does who knows it might just surprise you

I have never heard people complain about getting the Laser Eye Surgery. I am sure there are cases that have gone bad, but I don't think it is that big of a risk.

If you got the $$$$ go for it!

Good Luck!!!

after seventeen years of short sightedness and thick glasses and not to mention loosing out on scores of girls i underwent catact extraction, where they cut out the lens this was on the basis of one expert advice and will not recommend blade surgery unless three different people advise you to. That said, whilst my long vision was corrected i still use reading type prescription glasses - this was not disclosed to me before surgery which upset me as i was expecting a 99% correction. So I would advise you to opt for laser and then use glasses i dont thing the regular insertion and removal of contacts is good in the long term. Laslty even though carrots failed - keep on eating them as i do.

laser eye surgery has come a long way. it's advances have made it simple and easy to get your eyes fixed.

Go for the laser, although make sure you are what's known as a 'good patient' as it can cause more damage than solutions. I think it's possible to get free quotes in various places... ask your optician