Mapgirl has just had laser eye surgery, and she wrote a really informative article about the experience and the cost. My husband has been pondering LASIK for years. He can’t see much of anything without glasses, so I can understand his desire to have eyes that just work. I have glasses but I only really need them to drive at night or to watch subtitled movies. I am freaked out by the idea of someone cutting his eye with a laser, but I suppose that’s because I tend to be paranoid about things like that.
We’ve tossed around the idea of getting his eyes fixed, but we’ve never looked into the actual cost or what’s involved. Now that we’re out of debt and doing ok financially, we might start saving towards LASIK. We would use our HSA, and we would only get the procedure done after we had all the money saved in the HSA first.
I was surprised by the price tag in Mapgirl’s article. I had thought that LASIK on both eyes would run about $2000 – $3000. Guess not. I found this site that shows national averages, and it looks like we’d be paying about $4200 – $4800 to get both of his eyes done. Ouch. That’s a lot of money. We’re going to max out our HSA again this year ($5800), but once we pay our deductible for his knee surgery ($3000) and our midwife’s charges (another $3000), we’ll only have about $3700 left in the account at the end of 2008. So it would be 2009 for sure before we had enough money built back up in that account to cover eye surgery.
That will give us plenty of time to talk about it and figure out what we want to do. I absolutely do not want him to go to some cut-rate place that offers LASIK for $500. (the article I linked to above says those places have all sorts of hidden fees anyway, and you end up paying much more than they advertise). These are eyes we’re talking about – we only get two, and they have to last a lifetime. So I want to make sure that if we decide to go ahead with LASIK, we find the best doc around and don’t take price into consideration. In order to feel comfortable taking nearly $5000 out of our HSA to pay for LASIK, I think I’d need to know that we had at least another $3000 remaining in the HSA, to cover our health insurance deductible in case an unexpected medical situation were to arise. The HSA is our emergency medical fund, and with a $3000 deductible, I wouldn’t feel comfortable cleaning the whole account out to pay for eye surgery. So maybe it will be 2010 before we can afford this…
Kelly says
I have glasses- I’ve worn them since I was about 8, and I really need them. The last time I went to the eye MD, I was told that I’m a perfect candidate for surgery. But, like you, the thought of someone cutting open my eye- yeck!
April says
My mom had this done over 10 years ago, and she said it wasn’t bad at all (and this is coming from the woman who brought my father to the dentist with her because she was so scared of going).
BUT, her doctor at the time said she really needed to have it done within a certain period of time before her eyesight degenerated too much more. Now, that was a long time ago, and it might be different today, but you might want to discuss it with your eye doctor to see if your husband is a candidate and also mention that you were thinking 2010. If my mom had waited too long, she would have no longer been a candidate for it, but again, 10 years is awhile ago, and each person’s eyesight issues are different.
Misti says
Another option to look into might be PRK. My husband had it done 2 years ago. The recovery time is slightly longer, but there is no cutting of the eye (if you ever have any sort of head trama, there is a chance of that “flap” they cut popping open; and being as how my husband is in the military, that wouldn’t be so good in the middle of Iraq)
Anyway, it’s normally less expensive that Lasik. Just wanted to throw that out there.
Philip Brewer says
The place I used to work paid for LASIK, so a lot of people I know had the procedure.
I’ve decided it’s not for me. I have pretty severe myopia, but aside from that, I see pretty well–with glasses my vision corrects to better than 20/15. With LASIK, most people get close to 20/20 without needing glasses, but I really like being able to see better than that, and am willing to wear glasses to do so.
Among the twenty-odd people I knew who got LASIK, one did have serious complications (an eye infection) that was resolved with no loss of vision, but that did keep her out of work for many days.
chilihead says
I had LASIK done three years ago. I absolutely love it. I, like your husband, could not see anything without my glasses. Without a doubt this is the best thing I’ve ever done. I don’t remember there being any pain involved.
Having said that, your husband should check with the doc to make sure he’s even a candidate. I know people who have discovered they were not. Before you stress about saving the money (we did the same thing you’re doing, btw, with the HSA), find out if he can even get it. If he can, you should do it. He will really appreciate life with two good eyes.
Kelly says
Hey Frugal Babe! Can you send me an email? I’m not quite sure how to contact you otherwise… kllycat at yahoo dot com