Lasik surgery

I have been wearing hard and gas permeable lens for more than 30 years.

My contacts are expensive and I replace them about every 3 years. Of course, I am of the age that when I am wearing my contacts, I need reading glasses. A few years ago, I started wearing bifocal contact lens which were great in the beginning. Replacing those with the 2nd pair of bifocal lens did not go so well. So I have been wearing eye glasses with my contact lens.

Adjusting to reading glasses along while wearing contacts has been cumbersome.

After losing my left contact in a rainstorm more than a month ago, I decided to investigate lasik surgery more seriously. Replacing my left contact would probably costing me more than $200 for the lens and the appointment.

My process I describe is just that--my process and my decision. What you decide about lasik is your own decision.

Lasik surgery is not about efficiency and comparing costs to benefit in monetary terms. Though, the cost of lasik compared to the cost of current expenditure for contacts and glasses still plays a role in the decision.

So here is my comparison as I know it today.

• Contacts $300 replaced every 3 years.
• Glasses $250 replaced every 6 years
• $8 per month on cleaning and soaking solutions, equaling $72 per year or $200 every 3 years.

Cost of Lasik $3800

With the assumption that the costs of contacts, glasses, and cleaning and soaking solutions do not increase, Lasik surgery will pay for itself in 18 years. I will be older than 60 years old.

So what is the benefit of lasik surgery for me? Convenience! I have started wearing glasses when I was 8 years old and hard lenses when I was 13. Not juggle both eye glasses--reading and far vision.

• See clearly and not fumble around when I wake up.
• Not have to remember to take glasses and solutions with me on trips. Frankly, I think the lasik surgery will give me a convenience that I have not had in more than 35 years.
• I take my contacts out every night and put them in every morning. That is one less thing I had to do in the morning.
• I get up very early-generally 2 hours before anyone else. I will spend less time getting ready to exercise.
• I can swim and jog without my eyes being irritated.

Another part of the decision is where and who does the surgery. A place in town that does lasik surgery has been here a few years. I know very little about them. They advertise a low price for the surgery. I have heard 3rd and 4th hand a few opinions, but I am not so sure about the accuracy of both the positive and less than positive statements.

I asked my optometrist who has solved problems with my contacts years ago when two ophthalmologists could not. I respect and trust the opinion of my optometrist. He recommended a doctor in a town about an hour away. This particular doctor has been doing corrective eye surgery for 20 years.

I could save money and time by having the surgery locally. It's not that I don't believe both facilities could do the surgery. But, I keep thinking that if something is a surprise and the surgery produces less than satisfactory results, then I would rather be in the hands of the experienced doctors.