Erik M. started wearing glasses when he was just five years old. He says, “Contacts were never really an option because of my prescription.” And he isn’t alone; about 75% of adults use some form of vision correction, and more than 164 million Americans wear eyeglasses.
One of the ways many people decide to improve their quality of life is through LASIK surgery, which is designed to have a long-lasting effect on your vision, eliminating your need for eyewear altogether.
Erik leads a very active lifestyle, both professionally and personally. Here’s how he went from glasses-dependent to freedom with one simple surgery that changed his life.
What Is LASIK Surgery?
LASIK stands for laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis, a surgery that can correct your vision and eliminate or reduce your need for prescriptive lenses. During the LASIK procedure, your doctor uses sophisticated laser technology to precisely reshape the cornea at the front of your eye. This allows light to more precisely hit the retina at the back of the eye, correcting your vision.
If you are nearsighted, farsighted, or suffer from astigmatism, the light coming into your eye is bent incorrectly by the cornea so it hits the retina in the wrong place. This results in blurred vision.
Many people like Erik wear glasses or contact lenses to correct the problem. For some patients, LASIK surgery can reshape the cornea and correct vision problems to eliminate the need for any eyewear for many years.
For more common questions about LASIK surgery, check out our LASIK FAQ here.
Why Do People Get LASIK Surgery?
For the most part, LASIK is a lifestyle choice. Since the surgery was developed, millions of people have been able to discard their glasses and experience simple joys such as being able to see the alarm clock in the morning without putting on their glasses.
For Erik, the choice of having LASIK surgery affected not only his life—but how he interacted with his family.
The Effect of LASIK Surgery on Lifestyle and Convenience
Erik says, “As an arborist, my love of climbing is something that I always hoped to pass down to my children. Now that my oldest is getting to the point where we can climb together, I knew I needed to do something about my glasses.” Erik continues, “I was no longer willing to compromise with the constant slipping, fogging, and the chance of them falling off while climbing.”
For athletes or people living an active lifestyle, the constant worry about glasses is frustrating. Imagine being a delivery driver who is constantly going outside and inside during the cold winter months. The changes in temperature can cause glasses to fog up—and we don’t know anyone who enjoys rain on their glasses. Try playing almost any sport wearing your glasses and you’ll realize just how fragile these tools can be. They may serve a truly functional purpose that you can’t live without, but they do create some physical and psychological limitations that can be inconvenient at best.
However, it’s not just convenience that drives more than 700,000 people every year to seek out LASIK surgery. There are studies that show the impact of glasses on your appearance—and you might be surprised at what they say.
The Effect of LASIK Surgery on Appearance and Perception
While some people may believe glasses make their face look more appealing, the reality is that wearing them can be frustrating. Not only can glasses slide down, fall off, and be damaged when playing sports. They fog up, get wet in the rain, and even worse, can even affect how people perceive you.
Glasses naturally direct the gaze of the person you’re interacting with to your eyes. Interestingly, some studies show that the type of glasses that you wear affect how trustworthy people assume you to be. Sometimes, people who wear glasses are perceived as more intelligent but also less attractive.
The Effect of LASIK Surgery on Your Eyecare Costs
LASIK surgery ultimately saves money in the long run. If you don’t have insurance, the average price of glasses can run about $400. Now imagine wearing glasses for your entire life and how much that cost adds up over time as you buy new pairs to cover a change in prescription or a need for new frames.
One of the benefits of LASIK surgery is that it is a one-time expense that covers your need for vision correction and its associated costs for many years.
What Are the Results of a LASIK Surgery?
For Erik, getting LASIK was a question of being able to do more of what he loved with his family without the annoyance and distraction of glasses. He says, “Knowing I’ll be able to see my family clearer at all heights is truly a gift.”
Erik says that his surgery was not what he expected. “But in a good way,” he says. “The entire process was fast, painless, and I saw an immediate improvement in my vision.” Erik’s story is a typical one. He’s living free of glasses for the first time in his life. He says, “I chose to go to Ocala Eye because of their reputation and their emphasis on technology. For me, LASIK was life-changing.”
Want to know if you might be a candidate for LASIK? Take our brief LASIK candidacy quiz to find out today, or contact us to schedule your free LASIK consultation.
