I'll catch up with the rest of this thread in time but just put mine out there... I was lased by Ultralase (think they've gone under now) in 2003 after suffering with quite bad short-sightedness from a young age. My mum with almost the same glasses prescription so certainly hereditry. My father and sister with perfect eyesight. I was 23 at the time and I had semi-interestedly read up on the procedure and had been monitoring how the UK clinics had rolled out with it for a couple of years. It was going to be Boots originally, but Ultralase a close second as certainly one of the pioneers of it in the UK back then.
Cost £2500. I went through 6 months of pre-tests, generally just eyes but there was blood pressure related/general health stuff too. Around 3-4 visits? I was given a 40% success rate of not needing glasses again, at the 'very worst' they would reduce my prescription. Actual operation was the more invasive LASEK (not LASIK?) I think using something called 'Wavefront Technology' where they cut & lifted a flap of the front, lasered than popped it back down. Around 50s of laser each eye. I could see perfectly instantly as it was done, then eyes clouded over. Spent several weeks then of recovery, eye drops and patches over my eyes as I slept as wasn't allowed to touch them. 'Fake' glasses to protect them during the day. I took a week off work, but could have worked the next day or two. My prescription took a while to settle down afterwards, I was still having eye tests 18 months afterwards (usual was 12 months) until they where happy and I was left with 'pretty much' 20/20 vision. Didn't need glasses any more, which for someone who'd worn them every hour of every day since the age of 6/7 until the age of 23 was pretty amazing. I have a few 'floaters' from the operation, they probably decreased over the months following but there's still 1 or 2 there I see occasionally.
Now I'm 40, my eyes have 'deteriorated' the last 4-5 years and initial tests showed I have some of the short-sightedness coming back. It was explained as the eyes natural way of repairing themselves over time, which for me is to be short-sighted. I only really needed them for long distance stuff originally (driving) but now also for watching TV/cinema and medium distance stuff etc. They're not a strong prescription like before. I've also got a 'lazy eye' that's started to manifest in double vision (when at night driving) and when my eyes are overly tired. So now I'm generally avoiding driving (easily done) unless I need to. The couple of times it's been 'bad' (generally when driving late at night after a long day) I can generally concentrate hard to stop it, but that does tire my eyes out/drain even more after an hour or so, it's easier to just close the lazy eye when really triggered by bright oncoming lights. I was told there's no point getting lasered again, as due to my age I'd just 'move' the problem - to needing glasses for one or the other (short or long) anyway. The lazy eye I've been told may correct itself but doesn't seem to be, unsure if there's anything other than surgery which can correct that now. Doesn't bother me as my eyesight is otherwise pretty good the rest of the time. I don't get any double vision outside of driving - some combination of looking through glasses & windscreen maybe.
I would happily get lasered again, even for that (high) initial cost as it was a huge change in my life back then. The procedure although scary, was pretty amazing with an amazing outcome. It didn't particularly bother me wearing glasses, but as soon as I didn't need them I really enjoyed not wearing them! Especially at that point in my life which involved lots of crazy parties, late nights, bright lights and clubs.
