Lasik with Coupons/Deals via GroupOn/LivingSocial

I had LASIK done four years ago. Not sure you wanna go the "deal" route. I spent $6000, but went with a doctor in Houston who helped pioneer it. And I'm not sure what "lifetime guarantee" means.....

Usually lifetime guarantee means if you need a touch up over the years, they'll redo it.

Why would you need a touch-up? They fix your eyes, right?

No, a friend of mine had it and will have to go to have it done again at some point because your vision continues to deteriorate as you get older - or so he told me.

TL,DR: Worth every penny, totally freakin awesome, didn't hurt at all, and I'd do it again tomorrow if I had to.

More details: I had LASIK done at a TLC on July 20, 2012. I went from worse than 800/20 vision to 25/20 vision. Before the surgery, they straight up told me that I would never see 20/20 (not with glasses, surgery, contacts, EVER just based on the structure of my eyes) but to me, that's like telling me I'll never be 6'2 and something I totally accepted. I was happy that the doctor was honest with me and didn't promise me superhuman vision.

That said, I now see details in things that I never knew existed. Nature is truly a beautiful place and I enjoy being outside a lot more. The surgery has also aided me in exercising because I no longer have to deal with my glasses knocking around when running or falling off when doing yoga or pilates. I can run in the rain or humidity without my glasses fogging up. I can swim in the pool or at the beach and actually be able to find my friends and my towel when I get out of the water. I can tell the difference between shampoo and conditioner in the shower. I can see the mothereffin' craters on the moon, something I only knew existed because I had seen pictures, I saw them for the first time a month ago and I thought I was hallucinating. I've even been dreaming more because my brain has so much more visual stimuli to process. IT RULES.

I paid $5490 for both eyes, but I also have a "life time guarantee." I did MONTHS of research before choosing a doctor, needless to say it also took me months to save up that kind of money! I have really bad anxiety and the whole prospect of having my eyeball lasered off terrified me for the months leading up to my surgery, but I had worn glasses since I was in kindergarten (20 years ago or so) and all I ever wanted was to have the surgery.

The actual surgery took maybe 2-3 minutes tops for both eyes. First, they offered me a valium which I gladly accepted. I waited for the pill to kick in while they prepared the surgical room and machines. In the room, you lay down on this special bed-chair-thing and they give you a blanket if you want it. I didn't. Then they put anesthetic drops in your eyes and use a little tool to prop open your eyelids -- sounds terrifying but it's not uncomfortable at all. Then they put a suction ring sort of device around one eye and cover the other with a patch -- this too sounds awful but it's only for a minute and it also doesn't hurt but you do kind of feel like your eye might push into your skull. Weird but certainly not unpleasant. Then the doctor uses another tool to make a U-shape flap of the surface of your eye and peels it back -- also doesn't hurt but my mom was watching from a screen in the waiting room and she said it looked sort of gross, like they were peeling off plastic wrap. THEN OUT COME THE LASERZ!!! They have you focus on a blinking orange light. This orange light tracks the motion of your eye so if you look away or move your eye, the machine will automatically shut off the lasers to avoid shaping your eye incorrectly. So you just focus on the orange light while little purple and blue bursts of light shape your eye. It was like watching fireworks in my own freakin' face and it was totally awesome. The doctor counts down 45 seconds, 30 seconds, 15 seconds, done. Then they use a mini squeegee tool (I kid you not) and squeegee the little flap back down and give more drops. Then they cover the finished eye and repeat the process on the other side. After the surgery they lead you into another room where you get the standard chart reading and flashlight lookin' at eye test and they inspect your eye to see if they squeegeed the flaps back on all nice and smooth.

Afterwards it kind of felt like I had shampoo in my eyes because they were watery and itchy. it wasn't painful, more of an annoyance than anything because I had to wear plastic goggles taped to my face to keep myself from rubbing my eyes. That was the torturous part for me -- not scratching my eyes because that's a habit I've had forever and never noticed until I was explicitly instructed to not rub my eyes for at least two weeks following the surgery as to not dislodge my cornea flaps. I had to sleep in those lenses for three nights and it was not a good time. I also had to put in prescription anti-inflammatory and antibiotic drops in my eyes a few times a day for a week. After that, I used preservative-free eye drops religiously for about three weeks (like every 1-2 hours!) but after the third week I barely needed them. I use them maybe 2-3 times a day now when my eyes feel really dry or tired.

Having a both extreme myopia and astigmatism before surgery meant that they had to remove a significant portion of my cornea to "sculpt" the surface of my eye into a more appropriate shape to better focus the light. I was told I may need a (free) second surgery to fine tune my vision in my left eye (it was always weaker than my right eye). I have my six month post-op appointment in January and that will determine whether or not they will need to re-do my left eye. The reason that a follow up would be necessary is because they cannot remove too much of the eye tissue at one time. Lucky for me, I have thick corneas (just like everything else on my body, of course) so the doctor can further shape my eye if necessary.

As you can tell, I'm extremely happy that I did the surgery. It's the best five grand I've ever spent and I'm glad I went to a renowned surgeon. The doctor I chose also pioneered LASIK, published tons of studies, trained (and still trains) the most LASIK surgeons, and is the doctor that many other eye surgeons choose for their own surgeries. If you have any questions at all, feel free to ask me. I've only had it for a little over two months but it truly is remarkable.