Two years after LASIK eye surgery

I did a lot of research when I got it last year. PRK is a better procedure, but only marginally so, and I decided it wasn't worth the pain and longer healing time.

If you do a lot of extreme sports, martial arts, race car driving or those sorts of things, PRK may be worth the extra pain and inconvenience though.

Not scientific but I only had PRK as a choice. And the healing time is a lot more than the LASIK procedure. Although my doctor told me that it "could take a few more days".

Took me a week until I could look at a computer screen with a ridiculously large zoom level and only for a couple of hours total per day. At about 3 weeks, I could look at a computer screen at a lower resolution but no more than 4-5 hours total.

As for risk; from my reading the greatest risk in both are post-op infections which are a concern with any procedure(even sampling blood). The others weren't really something to worry about. With LASIK, there's also a risk of flap detachment. But that could happen even with a healthy flap if the force is big enough.

LASIK cost me about $3500 in Texas at the best place I could find.

It is easily the best money I have ever spent. I highly recommend it if you're a candidate.

LASIK is definitely a contender for the best value purchase I've ever made. My only regret after having it done is that I didn't get it years sooner. I think you get used to the hassles and limitations of glasses and contacts and it's not until you're freed from then that you realize what a pain they really were.

I swam a lot as a kid but avoided it once my vision got bad and being able to swim with complete freedom has made me rediscover the joy of being in the water. I'd call that out too as a bigger than expected benefit. It's also a big improvement over glasses or contacts for my favorite sport, snowboarding.

I can see slight haloing at night if I look for it but I find my night vision for driving much improved relative to glasses or contacts and my memory is of experiencing haloing and other worse artifacts at night with both so for me this hasn't been a negative. Driving is probably the most demanding night vision task I do and it's improved.

I was fortunate not to suffer any complications beyond dry eyes for the first six months or so, something I also suffered from with daily contacts. During that time I'd carry the little disposable moisturizing drops in my wallet but I don't need them any more.

There are obviously risks of complications but when I looked into it at the time it seemed that they were less over a ten year time frame than the possible complications of contact lenses, worth considering when weighing up the risks.

My Dad had LASIK done few years ago and he said that while his daytime vision improved to being perfect, his nighttime vision while driving actually worsened - he said that the halos around bright lights were so distracting that he would rather not drive at night if he absolutely doesn't have to.