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Comment by scott_s | Hacker News Reader

This is an important perspective. If these were the rates for a necessary medical intervention, we would be ecstatic. Because for a necessary medical intervention, the patient's baseline is not good. But wearing glasses is mostly a nuisance, not a health issue.

I've worn glasses since I was seven-years-old. They are a nuisance sometimes. But elective surgery, particularly for my eyes, makes me nervous. I don't want to take even a 1% chance of chronic eye problems to get rid of glasses.

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Well, I would say we'd also need a little more information about the 'dissatisfied' responses. It could be that none of them worsened the person's eyesight, they were just dissatisfied with the level of improvement, or that they still needed corrective lenses after the lasik. Or maybe not, but hard to tell simply from those poll questions, many people have unrealistic expectations.

Anecdotally, I know two people who had minor complications (chronic dry eye; sensitivity to light), but enough that they regretted the procedure. I also know more people who are very happy with it. But that's enough to dissuade me.

I'm in the same situation as you. Worn glasses/contact lenses from a young age.

A 1% chance of life-changing complications with something as critical as vision is, honestly, a shockingly high number for something I had assumed was far more safe.

Right now you have chronic eye problems, in the form of a lack of focusing ability. When I underwent LASIK, I knew my eyes weren't perfect before it, and that they wouldn't be perfect afterward, either.

The problem was never the surgery, it was the hype. I've regressed about 1 diopter over 15+ years, but that's better than being at 6 diopters and being almost unable to function without glasses.

In any event, taking away informed choice isn't what I want my taxes to pay the FDA to do.

I wear glasses as well. I've considered laser eye surgery. But I've decided against it, and all it took was learning about some of the bad outcomes. It's just not worth the risk. My eyesight is not that bad and glasses are fine. With my vision, 1 in 10 chance of being unsatisfied is not worth it. Sure, 9 of 10 times I'm happy, but I would far unhappier with a negative outcome for something so unnecessary than I would be happy with a good outcome.

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