What consumers say

What did the 793 consumers who have had laser vision-correction surgery say about the benefits, side effects, and regrets of the procedure?

An overwhelming majority (80 percent) of the respondents to the Consumer Reports survey said they were either "completely" or "very" satisfied with their laser vision-correction surgery. But nearly a quarter (24 percent) of not highly satisfied respondents said they regretted not learning more from people who had laser eye surgery before them, while only 4 percent of the highly satisfied respondents had this regret.

Here's what we learned from people who have had laser eye surgery about the factors that really seem to result in improved patient satisfaction.

Before the surgery

People who started out with nearsightedness (rather than farsightedness or astigmatism) tended to be more satisfied with the surgery.

Fifty-two percent of the sample cited being able to see a clock in the morning as a reason for having laser eye surgery. This is the only reason cited that was a statistically significant predictor of overall satisfaction with laser vision correction. It's hard to know exactly what goes into wanting to see a clock. Maybe these folks had the most realistic expectations. What we do know from analysis is that the more trouble you had seeing a clock before surgery, the more satisfied you were with your ability to do so afterward.

Those in the satisfied group tended to be younger (the mean age was 49) at the time of surgery than the less satisfied group (the mean age was 54). Among satisfied consumers, the main regret was not having the surgery earlier.

The surgery itself

Satisfaction with one's surgeon and the surgery center, doctor's office, or hospital where the surgery took place strongly predicted the overall satisfaction with laser eye surgery. But satisfaction with one's surgeon is a stronger predictor than where the procedure was performed. Thus, choosing a surgeon carefully is more important than choosing the center carefully. Having a surgeon who saw you immediately before and also after the surgery also predicted satisfaction.

After the surgery

Vision improvement was a significant factor leading to satisfaction. Improvements in everyday activities (seeing a clock, driving, and reading a newspaper) made a lot of difference in consumer satisfaction.

Side effects were a key factor in lack of satisfaction. Laser eye surgery is often viewed as safe, but 53 percent of the respondents experienced side effects, and 22 percent were still experiencing them six months later. Consumers who experienced two or more side effects at four weeks after the surgery and people who continued to experience any side effects at six months were not as satisfied as those with fewer problems, or problems that didn't last as long.

Another downside: More than half of the respondents (55 percent) said they still had to wear glasses or contact lenses at least some of the time. Although 44 percent expected that this would be the case, most (61 percent) said they were disappointed nonetheless. After all, being tired of wearing contact lenses and glasses was the most common reason for choosing the surgery to begin with. Those who didn't expect to still need glasses or contacts after the surgery (but ended up needing them anyway) were among the less satisfied group.

"While it's clear from the survey that many people have been very happy with their laser vision surgery, I worry about the patients who were not highly satisfied," said R. Linsy Farris, M.D., a professor of clinical ophthalmology at Columbia University in New York and a consultant for our survey. All may not be as rosy as the advertising suggests.

One patient's story

Wendy Ferguson, 37, an elementary school teacher's aide in Ohio, says her vision used to be so bad she was legally blind. But she managed as best she could with contact lenses or thick glasses. Then, at age 33, she heard several moms talking about their laser eye surgery. She did some research, made an appointment, and talked with a doctor. She then decided to go through with it. "Before the surgery all the precautions they have to tell you—that you could go blind—kind of freaked me out," she said. "But it wasn't bad and it took just 8 minutes." After the surgery, when she first opened her eyes "everything looked like it was under water." But by the next day, she says, her vision was close to 20/20. Things used to fade in and out every once in a while, she says, but now "it's really not that bad" and it happens only "very rarely." "The best thing is looking at your clock when you wake up in the morning and actually being able to see it," she said. "It's awesome. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but it really is."