How Much Does LASIK Eye Surgery Cost in 2022?

By Dr. Anthony Nappi / May 31, 2022 / 5 min. read

green eye woman

Did you know that according to the American Optometric Association, contact lenses cost $120 to $1200 per year, depending on the kind of contact lenses you choose? Even if you have insurance, it won’t cover the 100% cost of your prescription glasses or contact lenses in most cases.

That’s why we recommend LASIK eye surgery as an affordable alternate option. In the article below, we will discuss everything related to LASIK eye surgery costs so you can decide if paying for LASIK is in your best interest.

Understanding LASIK Eye Surgery Cost in General

LASIK eye surgery cost isn’t something that can be defined quite as easily. It depends on a wide variety of factors, such as:

  • Geography
  • Surgical experience
  • Insurance benefits
  • Technology (e.g., the kind of lasers used)
  • Eye prescription

On average, LASIK costs between $1999 per eye to $4000 or more per eye. As you can see, this is quite a range. Let’s go into detail with each cost factor.

Geography/Market

Depending on the state you live in, your LASIK eye surgery costs will vary widely. It’s hard to say precisely how much LASIK eye surgery costs in Arizona vs. New York because it depends on many factors, such as the market. But you can surmise that LASIK prices would probably be higher in places like New York or Boston because they have higher living costs, in general.

Surgical Experience

LASIK eye surgeons who have been practicing for longer, who have more surgeries under their belt, and who have more experience with a wide variety of prescriptions and technologies, charge more. The reason is that you can trust these surgeons more since they have had so many successful LASIK eye surgeries.

Insurance Benefits

Do you have a great insurance provider that covers LASIK eye surgeries? If that’s the case, then your costs will go down immensely. Even if you are paying out of pocket, there are other cost-saving financial options (more on that later).

Technology

LASIK technology is constantly evolving and improving. Bladeless LASIK procedures are becoming more popular, but they are also more expensive. Adding customization to your LASIK eye surgery will also add to the cost.

Eye Prescription

Prescription is a huge factor in determining your LASIK eye surgery cost. The higher your prescription, the more expensive your surgery may be at some LASIK centers. At Barnet Dulaney Perkins Eye Center, we DO NOT charge more for higher prescriptions. During your LASIK consultation, you and your ophthalmologist will discuss at length your prescription.

Don’t Be Fooled by Those Cheap LASIK Ads

You’ve probably seen these ads floating around either on television or on bus stands all around your city. Get LASIK for as cheap as $499, these ads shout out.

Wow, you must be thinking. Why would you pay $1500 or more for LASIK when you can get it for less than $500?

There are many reasons to remain wary of these ads. We explain some of them below:

Those Cheap Ads Probably Don’t Apply to You

What these cheap ads don’t mention is that the $499 cost only applies to a small section of the population with a very small prescription and with little or no astigmatism at all. You probably don’t fall in that category at all.

Also, just because you might fall into this category, it still doesn’t mean you qualify for this low price. You would only find out once the surgeon does a LASIK consultation with you, and by then, they might have jacked up the price to $1500 or more. Don’t get fooled by these ads!

They Don’t Account for the Full Cost of LASIK

Another problem with these cheap LASIK ads is that they don’t account for the full cost of LASIK. So you might end up paying extra for a bunch of things after the fact. Like:

  • Office visits (before and after your surgery)
  • Any additional technologies used
  • Astigmatism treatment
  • Re-treatments in case the first LASIK eye surgery wasn’t enough
  • Any incidental fees like eye drops, prescriptions, etc.
  • Facility fees

All of this should be included in the full cost of your LASIK eye surgery. But sometimes these cheap ads remove these costs, and then tack them on later, once you’ve been drawn into the clinic.

Sometimes LASIK Isn’t the Best Option for You

Remember also that LASIK sometimes isn’t the best option for you. Perhaps your case might be more suited for lens implants or some other procedure. That’s why it’s so important to find an experienced LASIK surgeon who can give the best treatment for you.

Give Yourself a True Discount on LASIK

If you are worried and pondering about how much LASIK costs, then we have a great solution for you. There are some great financing options you can use to pay for LASIK.

Flexible Spending Accounts

Check if your employer offers flexible spending accounts to offset medical expenses. What happens in these accounts is that you are allowed to set aside a certain amount of pre-tax dollars for medical costs, including the LASIK eye surgery cost. If this is an option with your employer, then take advantage of it to pay for your LASIK eye surgery.

Financing W/ Care Credit as an Option

We here at Barnet Dulaney Perkins also offer financing options where you can pay your LASIK in affordable installments using a Care Credit card. These are different from regular cards and are used to pay for out-of-pocket medical expenses that are not covered by insurance.

Both long-term and short-term financing options are available. You can read more about Care Credit here.

Alphaeon Credit

Alphaeon Credit is similar to the Care Credit option, where you can get pre-qualified for a certain financing option. Then you can pay off your LASIK eye surgery cost using affordable monthly payments. Read more about Alphaeon here.

The Real Value of Lasik Eye Surgery

The problem with most folks is that they might look at the $2000 or $3500 cost of doing LASIK eye surgery in Phoenix and balk at it. But they aren’t looking at the full picture.

For example, if you are paying, on average, $500 per year for contact lenses or eyeglass prescriptions, that cost will add up to quite a bit over a lifetime. If you start wearing glasses or contact lenses when you were 15 years old and wear them until you are 65 or 70, that’s $25,000 to $27,500 over that 50 to 55-year period.

That’s much more expensive than the $2000 or so that you would pay for LASIK eye surgery in Phoenix. In addition, as you get older, your prescription changes and becomes worse, which means, that you might need a prescription eyeglasses for long distances and another one for reading. That’s doubling your cost every year.

Finally, you also have to account for the fact that once you have LASIK eye surgery, your vision will be stable for many years to come (in most cases). You don’t have to go back to the eye surgeon except in the first couple of years of surgery for checkups. You are free to live your life!

But with eyeglass prescriptions, you have to spend hours every year traveling to your eye doctor, getting your prescription checked, choosing new frames, driving back to pick up the finished glasses, and spending time putting in the paperwork to get insurance payments for your prescriptions.

All of this adds up to hundreds of hours over your lifetime. This is time you could spend doing something else, like learning a new hobby or learning a new language.

Are you looking at the true and real value of LASIK eye surgery? If not, you might make the wrong decision when choosing whether or not to do the surgery.

You Won’t Know until You Visit Your Doctor

We highly recommend that you stop listening to all the naysayers and doubters out there. Everyone has at least one story of how LASIK didn’t work for someone they know. BUT do they know of the hundreds of thousands of patients who have had LASIK and became free from their prescription glasses?

It’s always better to avoid making a decision on LASIK until you visit an experienced eye doctor and have a conversation with them. You might be imagining the worst and you might realize once you have that consultation that your surgery would be cheaper than you expected and much more effective than you thought.

Why wait any longer? Get an appointment with our Barnet Dulaney Perkins Vision Correction Center and change your life today!

How Much Is Lasik in Arizona?

If you are wondering how much is LASIK eye surgery in Arizona specifically, then we highly recommend you set up a consultation with our clinic today. We will give you a detailed breakdown of LASIK eye surgery costs.

You can make your decision to get LASIK eye surgery and stop wasting time on prescription eyeglasses or contact lenses.

Educating yourself on LASIK is smart, but many people spend hours reading about LASIK on the internet only to find out they don’t qualify. You’ll save time by having a LASIK evaluation. BDP offers LASIK consultations at no cost. Schedule your free consultation by clicking the link, and you will be glad you did so.