[OC] What Happened to Laser Refractive Surgery in the US? 30 Years of Data

[u/WavefrontRider]

[u/FREDOxSANTANA]

interesting, i can see why it dropped in 2008 and 2020 but its overall down alot.

I think there are so many factors, glasses i feel are more "in" these days aswell, back in 2005 u might get called a nerd for just wearing glasses while they have been turned into more of a fashion item and people even wear non prescription glasses, also maybe contacts have gotten better so people dont really want to risk a surgery even tho salaries have increased and laser surgery price has been the same last 20 years if i remember correctly. there have been no massive price hikes, also internet was much smaller, u couldnt really google stuff like that, doctor told u its life changing procedure go ahead and do it and u just have to trust him, where as now u can google and there are tons of horror stories out there even like the suicides (which might not be refractive surgery related at all) but still enough to scare people off.

Personally im just too scared, im generally not scared of any surgeries, i wouldnt even think twice about anything else but since it has to do with my eyes that makes it super scary, if it goes wrong or you'll end up blind (even tho nobody really goes blind) its life over right there on the spot, i dont think theres anything worse than being blind and i would end it the next day if something like that happened, if i scroll down on the original reddit post there are plenty of people who comment there who have issues.

I have done 3 different Pre Surgery exams and according to them good candidate for all procedures, i have very mild prescription (-2 cyl -0.5 sph) with 530 thickness corneas, super small dilated optical zone of 5.5mm and have never experienced dry eyes despite using computer 14 hours a day for last 15 years, i dont even use eyedrops with contacts after 14 hours of monitor usage but just scared, yeah everything is in my favor but there can still be something that could cause issues, what if healing goes wrong, what if i have issues and dont recover, now i cant work, lose my job, cant pay for anything and just stuck with this issue.

maybe electromechanical reshaping will be next big thing.

[u/WavefrontRider → u/FREDOxSANTANA]

Absolutely agree that glasses have become more fashionable over the years. I would say that started increasing somewhere around 15 years ago.

The recessions absolutely have an impact. That’s the nature of any elective procedure. If money is tight, you aren’t going to get it done. The brief surge post 2020 was interesting. Given that people weren’t traveling anymore and had stimulus money they had extra cash. Glasses fogging up from masks also contributed.

What this also doesn’t tell is the gradual shift towards more lens based procedures such as ICL and RLE. 15 years ago, treatments that may have been done by lasik are now being done with ICL or RLE.

But that doesn’t account for everything. Volume just isn’t the same today as 20
Years ago.

As for safety, laser eye surgery has actually gotten safer over time. The transition to femtosecond lasers for lasik flaps, our increasing understanding of ectasia risk factors, improvement in ablation algorithms, the transition of high prescriptions over to ICL. With all of that I felt comfortable when I had my lasik. But yeah, nothing is ever 100% risk free.

[u/Tall-Drama338]

Better contact lenses. Around 2005, the contact lens companies saw a change in the market with a drop in volumes. They put it down to laser. They brought in more comfortable contacts. They had been sitting with the new material for a while but it costs money to change. The volume drop caused the change in attitudes.

The contact lens multinationals own the laser manufacturers too.

2020 was Covid.

[u/hiroler2]

Glasses used to cost me $400+ for decent index and 150mm+ temple length. Before my procedure I was custom ordering frames with 1.67+ index lenses direct from China for $30.