FWIW my Lasik came with lifetime free adjustments so I can have them touched up if I ever need to, but after 15 years I still have perfect vision.
I was very hesitant because of all of the corrections they were doing. I really really wanted to have one eye done, and wait a few months for the other one, but they told me they only do that in rare cases, and not to worry.
The average time the laser is on for a normal person is about 6 - 8 seconds, and I needed almost 60 seconds per eye. I was terrified that something was going to go wrong, and once they open your eye and you go blind, sitting there for a minute wondering if I will ever see again, while the laser takes pot shots at my quivering eyeballs is nerve wracking to say the least.
I also had a nine eleven (sneaky code word so you don't know something is wrong) incident where an eye booger or skin flake blew into my eye while it was opened, and they just flushed out out, and kept on going.
I still have the VHS tape of the surgery and it is the most terrifying thing I have ever watched. It has the strangest effect on me because of the alternate viewpoint (looking into my eyes) and the stress and fear I can see and recall. The seconds seem to take hours, and every time I watch it, I remember every instant, every thought, even the smell of my own eyes being vaporized right inside my head.
Do I regret it? NO
Would I do it again? YES
Would I recommend you give it a second thought? YES
When I told my doctor how scared I was in the follow-up, he said he was sorry, he should have given me a Valium.
He showed me the before and after plot of my lenses focal abilities, as well as the correction plot that showed what it wanted to do VS what it actually did, and it was spot on. Even with how much I moved during the surgery. It tracks your eye, and stops if you move. You can hear the laser zzzzzzzzzzt, then tk tk tk tk zzzzzzzzzzzzzt tk tk zzzzzz tk as it tracks your eye and takes every chance to zap it till it moves again.
I could see faint speckled greenish dots flickering through the blindness where the laser was doing the correction, and I could see the pattern it was trying to achieve, and it was very reassuring that I never saw a misplaced dot. The amount of technology making sure it only does what it is supposed to is pretty impressive. Seeing it do exactly what I thought it should do, while I was so incapable of holding still, made me know deep down everything was going to be alright. I was even impressed how well it managed to sneak in little zaps here and there whenever it could. Without that to keep my mind occupied and reassured, I would have went batshit insane.
Best thing I ever spent money on!
My mom just had her lenses replaced at 70, and said that she wishes she would've done it a long time ago. Might also be an option.
Cheers
