A patient from Santa Maria who I saw in my San Luis Obispo office was considering LASIK, but asked me how patients compared their LASIK to their previous use of contact lenses. This is a good question because LASIK is truly an elective procedure and would only make sense if it made patients happier than the alternatives. A recent, very large study conducted by the American Academy of Ophthalmology looked at this specific question. In this 3 year study conducted at 20 eye centers across the country, 1800 contact lens wearers ranging in age from 18 to 60 either: 1) continued to wear contact lenses or 2) had LASIK.  In the study, of the 1800 patients followed, 694 continued to wear contacts and did not have LASIK laser vision correction while the rest had LASIK. The percentage expressing “strong satisfaction” with contact lenses fell from 63% at 1 year to 54% by the 3rd year in the group that chose to continue wearing contacts instead of having LASIK. By contrast, in the LASIK group, 88% of former contact lens wearers expressed “strong satisfaction with their vision.”  The authors concluded that, compared to contact lens use, LASIK  “resulted in higher levels of satisfaction at 1, 2, and 3 years follow-up.” I am particularly impressed by the size and statistical soundness of this particular study. It was published in one of our most prestigious journals, the Journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.  Like many similar studies before it, this study gives statistical validation to the fact that most patients prefer LASIK over their old contact lenses. A PDF copy can be viewed here.