Save up to $48,373 by Having LASIK Vision Correction

Quite candidly, the perception of many people as well as our own was that a primary determinant of the affordability of LASIK  was strongly related to the cost of having it done. We wonder if centers that charge slightly more or less than others benefit or are hurt by placing financial stress on the patients who elect to choose them.  We are concerned about how important the cost of the procedure weighs in the average patient's decision.  Therefore, we decided to model the costs of LASIK at our current charges for the procedure  as compared to the costs of glasses, contacts, solutions, and routine eye care to see just how much of a premium was involved for those who choose this option.  We expected LASIK to cost more, and were very surpised just the opposite.  The bottom line -- having LASIK saves you money!

When we started looking at the actual costs for eye care over a lifetime we knew that there was a significant cost to glasses, contacts, solutions, and examinations for this care.  We also knew that there are costs for LASIK and the costs associated with this care as well.  For this reason we never put pen to paper and we were very surprised at our findings.

After a very conservative analysis these were our results:

• A 20 year-old could save over $48,000 over his/her lifetime with LASIK
• LASIK could pay for itself within 4 years (if you wear prescription eyeglasses, sunglasses, and use contact lenses)
• LASIK is even cost effective for most people in their 40s and 50’s!

These statistics are based on the average U.S. life expectancy of 77.7 years, and our own estimates of vision correction costs based on current average industry prices and recommendations.

These are the basic cost assumptions of this analysis:

• Prescription Eyeglasses: $200 every other year
• Prescription Sunglasses: $350 every other year
• Contact Lenses: $40 every month
• Contact Lens Supplies: $12 every month
• Annual Eye Exam (also applies to LASIK): $105 every year
• LASIK Cost: $3,500

Actual  prices will probably vary from our calculations, based on what your situation – your annual visits may be more or less expensive than our estimate, and you may pay a different amount for glasses or contacts or buy them at in less frequent intervals – but we hope that this will be helpful for anyone who is researching the costs and benefits of LASIK.

Importantly this model includes important eye examinations AFTER LASIK which add costs to the LASIK choice, but is far outweighed by the other costs.  The savings are probably even greater than calculated because there is an increase or escalation in the costs of things like glasses every year whereas the costs with LASIK are fixed.  Even taking into account that a small percentage of LASIK patients may need an enhancement procedure years later, there is still an obvious and significant savings by having the procedure.

What really puts this over the top is the benefit of financing at zero or a low percentage, since the time of financing takes away the large capital cost of having the procedure, and by the time that the procedure is paid for, about half of the savings has been realized.  Also, the other half can be covered with the fact that the surgery is tax deductible and/or the use of flexible savings accounts to use pre-tax dollars to cover the costs.

If you want the details, this table shows at ages in 5 year increments what the projected savings over a lifetime are for having LASIK surgery.  For instance, a 30 year old would need prescription glasses and sunglasses every two years and contact lenses and supplies totaling almost $53,000.  Even with the costs of LASIK and examinations, there is a savings of over $39,000!  Yes, some people may not wear contacts this entire time, but it is our experience that most LASIK patients are contact wearers who also have prescription glasses.  Also, we are being very conservative on glasses costs.  Some prescription glasses from designers with all the bells and whistles come in close to $1,000 just for one pair of glasses.

Based on the estimated costs of this analysis we can see that contact lenses and their associated costs are substantial.  This assumption is for daily wear disposable contacts.  Obviously for all of those who have significant astigmatism and require toric contact lenses the costs are significantly more.  By contrast, anyone who only wears glasses can subtract the contact lens costs from their personal analysis.  Even for these people, there is still a savings by having LASIK over glasses alone, or for that matter for contacts alone without glasses.  The latter is not recommended in that contact lens patients should always have glasses, at least for a backup should they not be able to wear their contacts.  Again, our experience is that most patients have a number of glasses and contacts when they come to visit us for consideration of LASIK.  This analysis also does not take into consideration the increased costs of bifocals or trifocals, which are substantially more expensive than single vision glasses.

Based on all of these factors, we believe that on average this analysis is accurate for the average person and thus demonstrates the financial benefit of LASIK clearly.  There are certainly many disclaimers that should be made on this type of an analysis and to the extent that we have missed anything important, please forgive us and feel free to comment to this post and we will make corrections.

So how often is there something that you can do which will benefit you for a lifetime, providing you with an improved quality of life AND save you money?  Here is my epiphany -- I think that at some level patients have realized this fact and that is why so many millions of people worldwide have decided to have LASIK vision correction.  Not only for the lifestyle benefit, but also for the financial benefit.

In a broader context, is not a healthier America a better and more cost effective America?  Can we learn something here that has broader implications in the health care debate and legislation before us today?  The emphasis should be on what we can provide to the American people that is valuable and will ultimately decrease the cost of health care and increase human productivity which will make us net a wealthier nation.  This country is based on a combination of a free market economy and helping those who cannot afford to help themselves.  We should be able to extend this philosophy to medical, dental, and eye care.

In the meantime, I am happy to learn that LASIK has helped to provide a better life while saving money for all of those who needed it.

Here is the most impressive thing in this table below, the epiphany.  First look at the column for LASIK.  While $3500 is a substantial amount of money, it is just about the smallest number on this chart.  Would it really matter if this was $5,000 instead?  Not much really.  So the costs for this procedure should not drive the decision to have it but rather whether it is a good idea for a particular person and also picking the best provider to have the greatest chance of realizing these savings.  Second, even people who are over 40 years of age still will have a substantial benefit.  In fact at age 40 there is still over $30,000 of savings by having LASIK.

Table by age in 5 Year Increments from Age 20-55 Comparing LASIK to Glasses and Contact Lenses