Quality of vision and quality of lifestyle are two big reasons to have LASIK.



At their very best, glasses and contacts simply disguise the symptoms of poor vision – they don’t solve eyesight issues at the source, they clutter up our appearance, and complicate our lives.



We’ve assembled this list of our patients’ most common gripes and delights in the LASIK versus Contacts stakes:



• The Alarm Clock Factor – It’s amazing how the little things can end up being so important. This is one of the most frequent delights: “I can wake up and actually SEE the alarm clock in the morning!” How much better would that be as a way to start, and continue, your day?
• Long-Term Contact Use Risks – Unfortunately, this is becoming a more frequent gripe. In the past six years the FDA has posted an increasing number of advisories concerning risks associated with contact lenses and some researchers have reported the risk factor with contacts as 5X greater than with LASIK. This doesn’t mean contacts are dangerous, it just means taking a balanced view of both sides – and choosing LASIK! (Source: Mathers, W.D. Archives of Ophthalmology; vol 124: pp 1510-1511)
• Freedom to Play Water Sports – Now this one is all delight. Glasses of course are impossible to wear in most active sports, but contacts can be hazardous or restrictive, especially with water sports. Splash, swim, frolic, canoe, dive, and ski with complete freedom – after LASIK.
• Appearance – Some folks are too shy to list this under their delights and contacts do help a lot with appearance – if you’re willing to put up with the inconvenience and risks. With LASIK you can feel as good as you look.
• General Safety – “Nobody move!” are usually the words we cry just before we go on a lost contact hunt. The real gripe here is that for those minutes while we scramble around we’re virtually blind. That’s not an issue so much sitting in a coffee shop – but behind the wheel of the car?
• Footloose – Maybe this delight only matters if you travel a lot. LASIK means you only have to pack what you want to take along, not what you have to take – like spare lenses, cleaning solutions, irrigating solutions, sterilizing solutions, etc. You can add here the freedom to work or party until late, get some sleep, and be up and at ‘em without worrying about the glued-to-the-eyeball factor.
• Seeing Naturally – This delight sometimes takes a while to be appreciated although it’s really the major benefit of LASIK. One day you realize you don’t have any glass or plastic between you and the rest of the world and that your eyesight is functioning exactly as nature intended.

And here’s one you probably didn’t expect – Cost Savings.

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Our patients are often surprised to realize, after they do the math, that in the long run LASIK works out cheaper than contacts. In fact, one way to look at this is that if you’re wearing contacts you’re already paying for LASIK. Over the next 10 years you’ll probably spend around $12,000 on visits to the optometrist, new prescriptions, new lenses, replacement lenses, cleaning and sterilizing preparations – and those are costs that never end. On the other hand, LASIK is a onetime expense with no-interest monthly payments taking the sting out of the transaction, so you end up having your cake and eating it too!