Does Laser Eye Surgery Hurt? Find Out What to Expect
Key takeaways:
Corrective laser eye surgery is a common solution for people with nearsightedness.
For most people, laser eye surgery is painless and the recovery is quick.
Some people don’t get the results from laser eye surgery that they hope for, however.
Each year, close to 800,000 Americans undergo laser eye surgery to improve their vision, freeing them from the need for glasses or contact lenses.
LASIK is the most common refractive surgery to treat blurred vision. During the procedure, a special laser changes the shape of the cornea — the clear lining that covers the front part of the eye — resulting in sharper vision.
While it’s a straightforward procedure that has been performed for decades, like any surgery, it can be nerve-racking — especially because it involves your eyes.
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If you’re considering corrective eye surgery, you may be wondering, “Does laser eye surgery hurt?” and “What is the recovery like?” Find out the answers to these questions and more below, as three people describe their experiences with corrective eye surgery.
No pain, just ‘a little bit of pressure’
Contact lenses had been a staple of Michaela Schell’s life since middle school.
“I’d always had fairly poor vision,” says Michaela, 40, of North Dakota. “The first thing I did in the morning was put my contacts in, and the last thing I did before bed was take my contacts out.”
Corrective vision surgery had been on her mind for a long time before she took the plunge in early 2022. The procedure appealed to her because she wanted the convenience of not having to deal with contact lenses.
“I had been hearing about LASIK from so many people for so long. It’s so commonplace now,” she says.
Michaela would always ask friends who had the surgery, “How did it go?” And she kept getting the same response: “Every single person’s answer was, ‘My only regret is, I wish I would have done it sooner,”’ she says.
So after booking an initial consultation, she had the surgery herself.
“It was so simple. No pain, just a little bit of pressure,” Michaela says. “They do have a suction cup that attaches itself to your eyeball to keep it from moving. So there is pressure with that, but it wasn’t painful. It was just weird.”
Michaela says that the entire process, from sitting down in the chair for the surgery to being back in the waiting room, was about 20 minutes. Her only issue was that she has a tendency to feel claustrophobic at times. And the way the surgery is performed felt constricting.
“You are laying completely horizontal on a chair. A large machine comes over the top upper half of your body,” she says. “You do kind of feel like you are in a box, so just be prepared for that.”
LASIK isn’t covered by health insurance or Medicare because it’s not considered medically necessary. But there are ways to lower the cost, including discounts and paying with funds from a tax-advantaged account. Michaela used her pretax health savings account (HSA) funds to pay for the surgery, for example. The cost of LASIK is also considered tax deductible by the IRS.
Am I a good candidate for LASIK eye surgery? Laser eye surgery may work for you if you have nearsightedness (myopia) or farsightedness (hyperopia).
Will my insurance cover LASIK? The answer is: probably no. But there are other ways to save on laser eye surgery.
What’s the difference between LASIK and PRK? Read about the differences between these two types of laser eye surgery.
Recovery can be quick for LASIK — and a little longer with PRK
Dalia Osorio, 24, had been wearing glasses for more than half her life when she started thinking about having laser eye surgery.
“Even considering LASIK was very scary,” says Dalia, who lives in Illinois. “I’m the type of person that does not like my eyes to get messed with.”
Knowing that glasses and contact lenses weren’t a cure, she worked up the courage to look into corrective surgery. Because of her prescription and other factors, Dalia ended up needing two different types of surgeries: LASIK in one eye and PRK, which stands for photorefractive keratectomy, in the other.
“I got them done at the same time,” Dalia says. “It was very quick, but it was pretty intense because it’s two different types of surgeries.”
Both procedures work by reshaping the cornea of the eye, but the surgical techniques involved are different. Recovery tends to be faster with LASIK, while it can take a few weeks or longer to heal from PRK. Having PRK also means wearing a temporary bandage contact lens to help with corneal healing.
“LASIK was easy: 24 hours — done,” Dalia says of the healing process. “PRK, it’s not that it hurts, but it’s just discomfort more than anything because of the [bandage] contact in your eye.”
A little over a month after the surgeries, Dalia says her recovery has gone well and she has no regrets.
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“It’s been amazing,” she says. “For PRK, though, I do recommend taking off a week from work. It was a mistake that I didn’t. I thought it was going to be an easy recovery, just like LASIK.”
The potential for side effects with laser eye surgery
While LASIK is a safe, effective treatment and most people are happy with the results, it’s not without risks. The most common side effects include long-lasting dry eyes and vision issues such as glare, halos, and double vision. There’s also no guarantee that you’ll have perfect vision after the procedure, even without side effects.
Michelle Tsiolis, 43, of Maryland, had LASIK in October 2023. She had been wearing glasses and contact lenses since her early teens and was looking forward to having clear, unblurred vision. But she never got there, even after paying about $4,000 out of pocket for the corrective surgery.
“My experience is a little abnormal. I would not recommend it,” she says of having LASIK. “I’m probably the anomaly. Ninety-nine percent of people love it.”
Typically, with LASIK, a person’s vision will still be blurry right after the procedure. And then, over the next few hours and days, it should get processively sharper. Michelle’s vision remained blurry after her surgery, though. She attended several follow-up appointments and was told her experience was normal, since it can take up to 3 months for the eyes to heal.
“My vision was not improving,” Michelle says. “My night vision was blurry, and I saw halos.”
After 3 months, Michelle should have been eligible for an enhancement procedure. But she was still experiencing issues with her eyes, including plugged glands and eyelash mites. So she had to cancel the surgery.
Since then, the plugged glands and mites have resolved, but Michelle doesn’t want to risk any more surgeries at this point. Her vision is better than before having LASIK, but she still has to wear contact lenses.
“I understand that some people would be satisfied with these results, but I’m not, just because of what I paid for,” she says. “It didn't work great for me, but I don’t think it was anybody’s fault.”
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