Electromechanical reshaping offers safer eye surgery

Everyone should do it? Without any research or consulting a doctor? This is really bad advice.

I elected for LASIK as my near-sighted prescription was severe enough that I could only see about 6-8 inches in front of my eyes without my glasses.

Also, I could only get my prescription filled in high-index lenses as the normal lenses would be too thick for nearly any glasses shop to order and grind. And had been that way for at least a decade by the time I opted for LASIK.

Poor control of my eye reflexes meant that even after over a year of trying I still couldn't reliably wear contacts, and was a highly stressful part of my day when I managed to get them on.

I had a family friend that went for LASIK very early on (late 2000s iirc) and had a horrible outcome losing sight in one eye, and a couple of friends in college that had amazing outcomes, so I had seen both sides. Ultimately, the LASIK operation was a very quick and pleasant operation for me, and the results were beyond my expectations. Nearly a decade later, my eyesight is still fine though I think I'm starting to see some blurring at middle distances that wasn't there a couple years ago. Did get some strong starbursts at night for a couple of years but I've either gotten used to them or they've faded.

After wearing glasses for around 20 years of my life, I love the freedom of no longer wearing them.

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'd rather pay for contact lenses forever, put them in, and take them out every day than risk anything to my vision

Same same same. Soft contacts are pretty freaking great in the grand scheme of things -- go read contemporary accounts of what it was like to suffer from severe myopia even just 50 years ago. The hype surrounding LASIK when there is a cheaper, non-invasive, lower risk, minimally inconvenient and widely available alternative never made an ounce of sense to me.

Exactly the opposite for me. I would never tolerate contacts and hated wearing glasses too. I had Lasik, 18 years ago now, and absolutely glad I did.

For me the only significant downside is dry eyes (it damages the nerves that sense dryness so you don't produce as many tears), but that's manageable with eyedrops. I do notice my night vision getting slightly worse now in my late forties, but hard to tell if that actually had anything to do with Lasik or if it's just normal aging. No problems with driving at night yet, and eye exams tell me everything is normal.