Glasses, Contacts or LASIK? Find the Best Treatment for You

An almost invisible visual aid placed on the surface of your eye, contact lenses are often the preferred option compared to glasses.

Some people find contacts more convenient than glasses. Although you need to spend a few minutes in the morning to put them on and a few more at night to take them off, once it’s done, there’s no need to worry where you put your glasses or the risk of damaging them.

Contacts are also ideal for people who feel they haven’t found the right design of glasses to wear, given contact lenses are practically invisible to others.

Not everyone is a good candidate for contacts or won’t find them comfortable. Contacts might cause irritation, dryness or eye infections. For some people, contacts aren’t comfortable to wear due to dryness, severe allergies or intolerance to contact lens. A unique glasses prescription may mean better quality of vision than contacts could provide.

When it comes to water sports, you can’t wear contact lenses because of the risk of infection. This means you need to bring the case with you and take them out before you get in the water.

Laser eye surgery has been available for decades and it generally uses a beam of light (laser) to correct vision. LASIK is one of the most popular types of laser eye surgery available.

The most significant advantage of laser eye surgery is a sense of freedom that glasses and contacts can’t provide. With this procedure, you won’t need to rely regularly on an external medium to aid your vision.

Beyond laser eye surgery, you won’t need to spend on glasses, prescription sunglasses, contact lenses, or saline bottles until a possible natural age-related deterioration (usually between the ages of 45-65 years). If you had initially opted for extra health insurance to cover constant orders of glasses or contacts, you might be able to reduce that extra expense!

After your eyes have healed, you’ll be able to play contact sports without worrying about damaging your glasses or possible injuries. You’ll also be able to go away for a night or longer without having to remember your contact lenses or glasses, which means one less thing to think about!

Budget is the main barrier stopping people from getting LASIK laser eye surgery. It’s a sizable outlay and most health insurance policies don’t cover the cost. Nevertheless, if you compare it to the cost of a lifetime of contact lenses, saline bottles, new glasses and the extras on your insurance, laser eye surgery is an alternative worth considering.

Another consideration is the time investment. Right from the beginning when you start considering this option researching and deciding whether this procedure is the right one for you may take time. After going through the surgery, you’ll need up to three days to recover. Throughout this time you won’t be able to use your eyes as much; during the day you’ll need to wear sunglasses to protect your eyes while they heal, and at night you’ll need to wear shields to protect your cornea while you sleep. This will mean taking a few days of work for the surgery and recovery.

If you’re someone who loves to stay active, you’ll also need to consider that strenuous exercise and contact sport is off the charts for at least one month after laser eye surgery to aid eye recovery. However after the first week, you can still do some low-intensity training, such as walking and using light weights.

For some people, getting laser eye surgery might feel scary and generate possible doubts about how safe the procedure is. While there may be mild pain or some discomfort involved after the procedure, the long-term benefits significantly outweigh these post-surgery aches.

If you have any questions or wish to discuss laser eye surgery further, please contact us online or call us on (08) 9381 0758 to speak with one of our clinical coordinators. Alternatively, you can take our free online suitability test to find out if you are suitable for laser eye surgery.