For most patients in Plano with a stable prescription, healthy eyes, and a few thousand dollars they’d otherwise spend on contacts and glasses over the next decade, LASIK in 2026 is absolutely worth it. The technology is better than it has ever been, the safety record after 30 years of data is excellent, and the recovery is faster than most patients expect.
But that’s the average answer. The honest answer is more interesting.
I’m a refractive surgeon in Plano. I do this for a living. So when someone asks me if LASIK is worth it, they’re asking the wrong person to give them an unbiased answer. They should ask my patients.
Still, I’ll tell you what I tell mine.
Who should not get LASIK in 2026?
Let me start here, because every other “is LASIK worth it” article online buries this part.
If you’re under 18, no. If your prescription is still changing, no. If you’re pregnant or nursing, wait. If you have certain autoimmune conditions, untreated severe dry eye, advanced keratoconus, or unusual corneal anatomy, the answer is also no.
About 20 percent of the patients who come into my Dallas-Fort Worth office hoping for LASIK are not good candidates for it. Some of them can have SMILE instead. Some can have EVO ICL. Some are better off in glasses for another year.
I don’t operate on people who shouldn’t be operated on. That’s the actual answer to “is it safe.”
Has LASIK gotten safer since the early days?
Dramatically.
The LASIK done in 1999 and the LASIK we do at Visionary Eye Surgery in 2026 share a name and not much else. Back then, we used blades to make the flap, less precise lasers to reshape the cornea, and limited screening tools to spot patients with hidden risk factors.
Now we use two femtosecond lasers, eye-tracking technology that compensates for tiny movements during the procedure, corneal topography that maps the eye in micron-level detail, and screening tools that catch problems before they become problems.
The complication rate today, in experienced hands, is lower than the complication rate of wearing contact lenses for 20 years. That’s not me saying it. That’s published data.
How long does LASIK last?
For most people in Plano, decades. For some, the rest of their life. For a small percentage, until presbyopia kicks in around age 45, when reading glasses become a separate conversation.
The cornea heals in a stable way. The reshaping doesn’t drift back. What changes is the lens inside the eye, which thickens with age and eventually causes either presbyopia or cataracts. That’s not a LASIK problem. That’s a normal aging problem.
If presbyopia or cataracts arrive later, we have other tools. Custom Lens Replacement or cataract surgery with a premium lens can restore the vision again, often better than before.
LASIK is the right surgery for most stable prescriptions in your 20s, 30s, and early 40s. After that, the conversation usually shifts.
What about the patients who say they regret LASIK?
I take this group seriously. Anyone who tells you they don’t is being defensive.
The vast majority of LASIK regret falls into one of three buckets. First, patients who had unrealistic expectations and weren’t told the truth about night halos, dry eye, or the small chance of needing reading glasses early. Second, patients who weren’t actually good candidates but had the surgery anyway because someone wanted the case. Third, patients who had legitimate complications, which exist and are not zero.
The first two are preventable with honest screening and an honest surgeon. The third is rare but real. Anyone who tells you LASIK has zero risk is selling, not surgical.
I’d rather tell you the truth and have you make an informed call.
Is LASIK worth it financially in DFW?
If you wear contacts or glasses for the next 20 years, you’ll spend more on lenses, exams, frames, solution, and the occasional emergency replacement than you will on LASIK at Visionary Eye Surgery in Plano. The math isn’t close.
One of my Plano patients did her own spreadsheet before she came in. Twenty years of contacts at $700 a year, plus glasses every two years at $400, plus the eye exams. She’d spent over $20,000 by the time she walked in. She had her surgery the next month.
The financial argument is the easiest one. The harder argument is the lifestyle one.
What changes after LASIK that no one talks about?
This is the part patients tell me on their one-month follow-up that they didn’t expect.
Waking up at 3 a.m. and being able to read the clock. Driving home at night without the windshield being a smear. Swimming with your kids in the lake without contacts floating away. Going on a long flight without dry, uncomfortable eyes. Reading a menu in dim restaurant light. Being able to see your spouse’s face when you wake up.
None of these are big things. All of them are big things.
That’s what patients are paying for. Not 20/20 on a chart. The small moments where their eyes used to fail them and now don’t.
So is LASIK worth it in 2026?
For the right patient with the right surgeon and honest expectations, yes. Easily.
For someone being rushed through a high-volume DFW clinic that advertises $250 an eye, maybe not.
The procedure is only as worth it as the people doing it. Pick well. Read our patient stories. Then come into our Plano office and let us tell you the truth about your specific eyes.
Keep reading
- All-Laser LASIK in Plano
- EVO ICL for High Prescriptions
- The 20/Happy Patient Guarantee
- Schedule Your Consultation
Visionary Eye Surgery | Plano, TX
