I just happened upon Virginia Postrel's account of her recent laser eye surgery (via Instapundit), and it has me pretty depressed. Being in the top 0.5 percent of the people with the worst vision in the country (so I'm told), I've been anticipating liberation just as soon as I could screw up my courage to go for it, but after reading this, I think I'll stick with my contact lenses. The other thing they don't tell you, at least not in most sales material, is that this surgery is expensive. Mine cost $3,950, plus some for various drugs and artificial tears. Figure $4,000. It's well worth it, but don't be fooled by ads promising Lasik for 500 bucks an eye. That's for people who barely need glasses. I have to be super-careful with my eyes for the next several weeks: putting in artificial tears every 15 minutes or so, sleeping with protective eye shields that leave weird lines on my face, wearing goggles when I go outside, and eschewing eye makeup. Worst of all, I can't rub my eyes for a full month. Just think about waking up in the morning with the usual gunk in your eyes and not being able to do a thing about it. You definitely need both self-control and a willingness not to look your best. (My eyes are bloodshot and my lashes tend to accumulate salt from the artificial tears—lovely.)Since my nearsightedness was pretty extreme (minus 10 diopters), I had the relatively new Intralasik procedure, rather than regular Lasik. What they don't tell you about this procedure is that it's a two-step process, and the first step hurts, because they put some sort of clamp around your eye socket. Or something (they don't say, and you can't see). The pain is less than a migraine and just lasts a few minutes, but if you're not expecting it, it's pretty disconcerting.
Yes, she was thrilled with the results. But my correction is a point or two over 10 diopters, and reading that description was more than enough to convince me I can live with it. It's not the money. Or the make-up. It's that pain part. And the goggles. And the inability to rub your eyes. One of life's greatest pleasures in the morning.
