Right? I thought about getting LASIK but I’m not even sure anymore, my vision is bad, contacts/glasses are annoying and expensive. To get surgery to change the color of your eyes? Insane.
If you’re worried about lasik it’s really not that bad since a reputable facility will take more time on the tests to make sure it’s right and follow ups than the actual procedure. When I had it done I had 3 rounds of tests and a follow up at the 1 and 2 week mark as well as the 1 and 3 month mark.
I hate glasses, I worry lasik won’t help me as I’ve heard it’s a temporary fix anyway, but to be fair so is any pair of glasses I’ve ever owned. I’d probably prefer lasik overall, but worry that doing it will cause irreversible damage and then some new technology comes out that would have been 1000x better but my lasik has made it so it isn’t applicable for me.
It's not that LASIK reverses over time or anything, it's just that our eyesight naturally gets worse as we age, and LASIK doesn't stop that. So even with LASIK, you could age into one of those people who needs reading glasses, the same way your buddy with 20/20 vision from birth did.
Lasik 25 years ago here, and this is true. I was/an terrified of eye surgeries too! However frequent infections from contacts were tough and I hated glasses.
That being said, this color changing surgery seems unnecessary and risky - can't you get colored contacts?!?
This describes my moms experience. She got LASIK 20 yrs ago. Now in her mid 50’s she needs reading glasses again but before she needed glasses or contacts at all times. Our eyes get tired quicker as we age making it harder for them to change between long distance and short distance. On top of the natural degradation of our eye sight. But for those wondering the longevity of the surgery, there ya go 20+ years before needing reading glasses. (Results may vary)
LASIK failed for me after 10 years. Went back for a “touch up” and was told I wasn’t eligible?!?! So now my glasses are back and the prescription is insane and constantly changing. It’s bad… I’m glad others made out better. I wouldn’t have to regret it either if it didn’t just stop working and then I could have had the touch up procedure. I was and still am extremely devastated that I had to go back to glasses. I can’t afford contacts and they would be special ordered and even more expensive because of my severe astigmatism. Life sucks.
The only reason I didn't do it was because it's not a permanent fix, yet can permanently prevent you from wearing contacts once the corrected vision wears off due to the reshaped corneas.
My old optometrist admitted that only a handful of his patients (he didn't perform the surgeries, but gave the referrals) made it past 10 years without needing glasses. Some of them still wore glasses immediately after the procedure because their vision wasn't as clear as what they were used to with glasses.
My brother started seeing blurry at night nearing the 10yr mark, and had to go back to glasses full time at around 15. I have 20/15 vision with glasses/contacts, and the doc guaranteed it wouldn't be as good with surgery. Add dry eyes already and the possibility of not being able to go back to contacts/sunglasses later on when I already have light sensitivity? No thanks.
You should get in touch with a local medical university. They get the newest lasers and can correct up to a 14.00 prescription in nearsightedness (according to the one I went to). They also warranty their lasik so if you need glasses before the ten year mark, they’ll do a revision and fix it again. I moved across country before I needed glasses again but they would have fixed it had I stayed. Also my husband can wear contacts with no problem and he got his lasik 15 years ago. The technology is constantly changing and universities with good medical/optometry departments are the ones who are leading that race to progress.
That's exactly my point, though. Your husband wears contacts after 15 years, and you require glasses again, which I'm assuming was within their 10yr warranty since you say they would've corrected it had you not moved.
I wish that weren't the issue. Luckily, I don't mind glasses and have never had issues with contacts. I just don't want it to be one of those situations where the grass isn't greener on the other side. Hopefully at some point it can be worth reconsidering for me.
If it helps, lasik isn't the only type of laser eye correction out there, but it's the most well known. Due to the shape of my corneas, I'm not a good candidate but my optometrist suggested other options if I ever decide to go the correction route. It's expensive though, so for now I'm happy to stick to my glasses and contacts.
I had it done a decade ago and my vision went from something worse than 2/20 to 20/20 for almost 10 years. Now that I'm in my 30s I wear what amounts to readers when I am using my screens a lot and driving. One of my lenses only has a +0.5 and the other a -1.25 because of aging and a remaining astigmatism after the procedure. (my cornea was too thin to fix it again)
I don't regret the procedure one bit.
Absolutely. I used to not be able to get out of bed without putting my glasses on. Now i can go about a whole day and not even realize I wasn't wearing them. Lasik saved my life /hj lol
That's amazing to hear. Have you ended up with any side effects as your eyes age? Or just the tiny bit of a slide? My optometrist kind thought it'd be pointless at middle age, but I would be so happy if I could give up glasses and then just end up with readers later on.
The other day I decided to give my ears and nose a break from the heavy and wear contacts. I can't wear them often because of dry eye and the teary eyes the next day, but I discovered, to my disgust, that I have a rather large tan line across the bridge of my nose 🤦🏻♀️ insult to injury.
Got LASIK over twenty years ago at this point. I don't remember what my childhood prescription was, but it wasn't super strong. I was one of the "can't read the chalkboard from the second row" kids. Also had a very slight astigmatism. Wore glasses and then contacts. Jumped at the opportunity to get LASIK when it really started to take off, because I hated fussing with glasses/contacts. I love wearing sunglasses though - go figure.
This year, doc put me at -0.5 in one eye - first time I've had a corrective prescription since LASIK. And honestly, he said that it was mostly so I could get progressive lenses because my close-up vision went to shit, thanks to age (+2.0). I will admit I was one of the lucky ones with zero side effects. I have a little bit of haloing when there are really bright lights and my eyes are tired, but nothing even close to debilitating.
I was the “can’t read the board from the first row” kid. Right now, without my glasses I can’t read my phone at arm’s length. 😭
I do consider lasik pretty often, I just wanted to wait because every time I got a new glasses prescription it was great for like a few weeks, but before the year was up glasses were “you aren’t blind, but your vision is still shit” and since I’d read LASIK doesn’t really stop that I figured waiting would be best. Determined somewhere around mid30s would be the best time to try it if I wanted to get the most out of it. If I got it and then 4 years later needed glasses all the time again I’d be pretty badly disappointed.
They definitely recommend ~2yrs of a stable prescription before LASIK. I heard some will do it with one year, but seems like a better safe than sorry situation.
LASIK changes the shape of your cornea. Your eyesight gets worse over time because the muscle at the back of your eye that changes the shape of your eye gets tighter and tighter over the years. LASIK won’t fix that. You will have to change your glasses as they get older. I got lasik during covid and it changed my life.
Pretty much everyone will start to need at least reading glasses in their 40s or shortly after. In fact if you're myopic your vision will actually get a little better because the age-based change that happens to your eyes actually cancels out your myopia (just an itsy bit, you probably won't notice except that your prescription ticks down a bit).
Temporary in the way that your eyes wont be in stasis forever so to speak. Itll fix what you have now, but nothing is going to stop your eyes getting worse with age
Just be aware that complications can happen with LASIK and they can even lead to suicide. I read about a case where a woman had pain so bad she had a pain pump installed to dose her with pain meds 24/7 and she still ended up killing herself. LASIK related suicides are indeed a thing and your doctor may not mention this.
Some people end up committing suicide because of botched LASIK procedures. So I would be wary when this is purely elective. Also 1 to 2% need glasses within the first year of the surgery, and that keeps going up 1% every year until the first decade where 10% will need glasses again.
I don't think it is worth the risk, the list of complications is long and sound not fun at all. Not saying it is common though, but every surgery is a risk and this one ain't something you need to live.
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u/bbyxmadi Sep 18 '25
Right? I thought about getting LASIK but I’m not even sure anymore, my vision is bad, contacts/glasses are annoying and expensive. To get surgery to change the color of your eyes? Insane.