Better Than Contacts

Losing, misplacing, forgetting, scratching, slipping, tearing, smearing, fogging, sore eyes, red eyes, itchy eyes, glued to your eyeballs, allergies, hay fever, cabin fever (because you can’t do water sports) and pocket book shrinkage…

After LASIK you can take all of these words, phrases and hassles out of your dictionary – and your life.

Here are the most common pros and cons when our patients have when they compare life with contacts versus life after LASIK:

The alarm clock factor – It’s amazing how the little things can end up being so important. This is one of the most frequent delights after LASIK: “I can wake up and actually SEE the alarm clock in the morning!” How much better would that be as a way to start and continue your day?

The risks of long-term contacts use – Unfortunately this is becoming a more frequent gripe with contacts. In the past six years the FDA has posted an increasing number of advisories concerning risks associated with contact lenses. Some researchers have reported the risk factor with contacts as five times greater than with LASIK.* This doesn’t mean contacts are dangerous, it just means taking a balanced view of both sides – and choosing LASIK!

Freedom to play water sports – Glasses are impossible to wear in most active sports, but contacts can be hazardous or restrictive, especially with water sports. Splash, swim, frolic, canoe, dive and ski with complete freedom – after LASIK.

Appearance – Contacts do help a lot with appearance – if you’re willing to put up with the inconvenience and irritation. With LASIK, you can feel as good as you look – all the time.

General Safety – “Nobody move!” are usually the words we cry just before we go on a lost contact hunt. The real issue here is that for those minutes while we scramble around, we’re virtually blind. That’s not a problem while sitting in a coffee shop – but behind the wheel of the car? Oops. With LASIK, you’ll never need to bother with contacts again.

Footloose – Maybe this only matters if you travel a lot, but LASIK means you only have to pack what you want to take along – not what you have to take – like spare lenses, cleaning solutions, irrigating solutions, sterilizing solutions, etc. You can add here the freedom to work or party until late, grab a quick snooze and be up and at ‘em without worrying about the glued-to-the-eyeball factor.

Seeing naturally – This delight sometimes takes a while to be appreciated although it’s really the major benefit of LASIK. One day you realize you don’t have any glass or plastic between you and the rest of the world and that your eyesight is functioning exactly as nature intended.

Better vision than with contacts – Many of our patients report a more improved vision than with their contacts. Here’s why: soft contact lenses, due to their design and composition, cannot provide the quality of vision achieved with Custom LASIK. Custom LASIK solves the unique corneal irregularities that affect your vision. Also, contacts cannot fully correct astigmatism.

Cost Savings – Our patients are often surprised to realize after they do the math that LASIK works out cheaper than contacts. In fact, one way to look at this is that if you’re wearing contacts you’re already paying for LASIK. Over the next 10 years you’ll probably spend around $8,000 on visits to the optometrist, new prescriptions, new lenses, replacement lenses, cleaning and sterilizing preparations – and that’s a cost that keeps on keeping on. On the other hand, LASIK is a one-time expense, and no-interest monthly payments take the sting out of the transaction. You will end up having your cake and eating it too!

Call us to learn more about Atlanta LASIK patients discussing the differences between LASIK and contact lenses.Thomas Eye Group is an experienced Atlanta area LASIK center with the latest technology and experienced surgeons

* Source: Mathers, W.D. Archives of Ophthalmology, October 2006; vol 124: pp 1510-1511. William Mathers, MD, professor of ophthalmology, Oregon Health & Science University Casey Eye Institute, Portland, OR. “One shouldn’t just assume that contacts are safer,” Dr. Mathers reported. “This may have been true at one time, but for the average person this is certainly not the case anymore.”*