As much as laser eye surgery comes with a lot of benefits—including not having to rely on glasses or contact lenses—there are also many negatives. It’s important to weigh upyou’re your options before deciding to go ahead with any surgery, so this article is going to look at some of the negatives you may come across regarding laser eye surgery and how they compare to the positives.
The cost
The main issue many will come across when researching laser eye surgery is the cost of it. The laser eye surgery cost is in the region of $3000; however, there are many clinics that will offer monthly payment plans so you don’t have to pay out a large amount of money in a short space of time; and instead you can do it in small amounts regularly. So, if you can’t afford the large amount all at once but can afford smaller payments, laser eye surgery is still an option for you to consider.
The recovery time
Even though laser eye surgery is a relatively non-invasive surgery, like all surgeries, it also comes with recovery time. Luckily, most types of laser eye surgery have a very quick recovery time of just a matter of days. However, surgeries such as PRK and LASEK can take anywhere from two weeks to a month to recover from, so it all depends on how much time you can afford to spend away from your daily life, such as work and spending time with family and friends.
Dry eye
Dry eye is a very common side effect of all types of laser eye surgery. It is also the reason why you might not be able to have the surgery in the first place—as if you already have dry eye, this can worsen the recovery of your eyes, may lead to further complications, and even the possibility of more surgery.
However, if you don’t have dry eye before surgery, it’s more than likely you’ll have it afterwards as up to 40% of laser eye surgery patients have reported having dry eyes months after they’ve had their surgery. So even though the recovery time is relatively quick, you can still be experiencing several side effects for months afterwards and this is a point that you should consider if you feel able to put up with it after the main period of recovery.
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Regression of sight
A relatively rare side effect of laser eye surgery is experiencing a regression of sight. Even though most laser eye surgery patients have a good sense of vision after surgery, some patients have reported having to revert to using either glasses or contact lenses due to their eyesight starting to diminish. This may just be a natural side effect of getting older and may not always be completely due to the quality of your surgery, but your eyesight will naturally get worse as it does in everyone when they age.
Is laser eye surgery still worth it?
Despite its negatives, laser eye surgery still comes with a lot of positives. It means you don’t have to worry about losing your glasses or struggling to put in contact lenses. You may also find you spend less time having to go to an eye doctor to update your eye prescription than you would if you were having to pick up a new pair of prescription glasses or a new pack of contact lenses. Whether the negatives outweigh the positives or not is completely down to you.
