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I had LASIK about 7 years ago. I've only heard of PRK and LASIK so don't know about the other ones. It was the best decision I ever made!

I'm not going to lie though, it was very very scary getting it done. It wasn't necessarily painful but I was freaked out about all that could go wrong and ending up blind. I made them give me extra valium to calm me down. My eyes were tired after the procedure and all lights had halos but that only lasted a day or so. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I had the custom LASIK done (which you knew). Wen I did it you could put $5000 into fsa so I just maxed it out, but the limit is lower now. I think this is one area it is not worth skimping on though. Go with the best doctor or center regardless of cost- it's your vision you are messing with!

*Subscribing for more input from others!*

DH doesn't qualify for Lasik because of some potential latent condition but has trouble wearing contacts. I would love for him to explore other options...

Best money I've ever spent, hands down! I had LASIK done on both eyes in March (just in the nick of time, I found out I was pregnant about two weeks later!) I remember a lot so this post is kind of long:

Procedure: Painless; just some pressure from the devices they use around the eyes. I was relaxed and a little giggly from the Valium. I weirded myself out a bit thinking about what was actually happening. It really was as basic as staring at a bright light for something like 30 seconds. My procedure deviated a bit from normal: on both eyes the laser did not successfully make all the necessary incisions so the doctor had to do this manually; however, I did not feel any pain during this step, and there have been no side-effects, recovery-wise.

Recovery: Right away, I could tell my vision had drastically improved, but it was blurry and not perfect. Each day afterwards there were big improvements. I was given several types of eye drops to use over the following two weeks. The most uncomfortable part was that the doctor had me wear contacts for four days straight to act as band-aids. Once they took out the contacts, the swelling I had started going down right away, and my vision started improving quickly. I went in for lots of follow up appointments (the next day, four days out, two weeks, a month, two months, three months, six months).

At nine months out, my vision is fantastic. No halos, no blurriness. One eye has slightly better vision than the other. The doctor said I could do a touch-up to try to even them out; however, he said that having the slight inequality would actually delay the need for reading glasses down the road. I use Refresh eye drops daily because my eyes usually feel dry when I wake up. This dryness may be related to my pregnancy more than the procedure though.

Hope this helps!

Even with the valium, I will say it was the scariest moment of my life, right before they started. Hands down worth it, but just a heads up Also, I think my recovery was slightly more painful than most-- not really painful, but uncomfortable, kind of burning and sore. And my eyes got tired easily-- like, I'd be fine, but my eyes were just too tired to continue reading on a screen or whatever.

But what I remember the most from recovery was boredom. You can't read, use a computer, or watch TV for at least a couple of days, and I was just so bored without any of those things to do! And everyone I knew was at work. DH called my during the day and was like, what are you up to? My honest answer was, starring at the ceiling. So.... get a book on tape before!

Oh and I did avoid all eye makeup for a couple of weeks-- this wasn't that hard for me since I am not a big makeup person anyway. It was harder having to only wear glasses the few weeks prior to the surgery, since things like going to the gym or for a run were a lot harder with glasses instead of contacts.

LASIK was awesome! I had custom through TLC for about $4000. It has a lifetime guarantee which is great.

It's by far the best money I even spent! The procedure was so quick and painless. I do have dry eyes in the am but two drops first thing in the morning is all I need. I had crazy dry eyes with contacts though

@Foodnerd81: ha! So true! The 72 hours of no tv/iPad/phone afterwards seemed tortuous pre baby, what I wouldn't do for that now...

@mrs. wagon: i think i just wore no eye makeup for about 3 weeks. annoying b/c i feel naked without mascara. i had it done in the summer and remember not being able to swim. this was before DS, so I imagine you'll also have to be careful that the kiddos don't touch your eyes.

@sandy: ditto to everything. Uneventful, my only regret was not doing it sooner.