The Cost of Laser Eye surgery

Numbers aren't my strong point. My other half would undoubtedly agree that being frugal with my pennies isn’t my strong point either - I know how to make money but I know how to spend it too.

One thing a few people have said to me about having laser eye surgery is that it’s expensive (as if glasses and contacts are cheaper). Now forgive me for a moment while I go a bit mathematical on you, but let’s just think about this:

I’m 25. If I had successful laser eye surgery it should hopefully last until I reach at least 40-45, after which I’ll get presbyopia or old-age shortsightedness as every good sighted person does. So at minimum that should be 15 years of good sight.

At a bare minimum I would want to update my glasses every 4 years, and the most recent pair cost me £200.

Now the maths bit: (For the sake of my simple brain I’m now going to round up my years of good sight to 16)

With a change of glasses every 4 years that would mean 4 pairs of glasses, which seems like an obscenely small amount. That’s £800. 4 years is a long time to wear the same piece of furniture on your face every single day. Some people have ‘going out’ specs and ‘office wear’ specs etc. I don’t do that but I can see the attraction. (Must point this out to other half later to show that I AM frugal with my money thank you very much!)

So where was I… oh yes, £800 on glasses. Now what about contact lenses?

I currently pay at least £20 a month for monthly contact lenses and solutions.
That’s £240 a year. Over 16 years that comes out at £2880.

That’s £3680, and realistically glasses get broken, scratched, go out of fashion and just get boring – so this is likely to be just a starting figure for realistic costings.

Now, how much does laser eye surgery cost? Ultralase quote basic LASIK or LASEK at £1990 for both eyes.

Conclusion of this experiment: Yes, as a lump sum laser eye surgery would be expensive, but over the years it actually works out cheaper than glasses and contact lenses as a method of correcting my vision.