Calculator · laser vision correction
LASIK or contacts and glasses: when the two costs cross
LASIK is paid for once. Contact lenses, solution, glasses and exams are paid for every year. This sets the first beside the second, using your own yearly figures, and shows the year one overtakes the other. It compares costs, not eyesight, and makes no claim about what is appropriate for anyone.
The calculator
This compares costs, not eyesight. It sets a one-time price beside what glasses and contact lenses cost each year. It says nothing about what surgery does for anyone’s vision, who it is for, or whether glasses or contacts are still needed afterwards: those are questions for a person and an eye doctor.
LASIK for both eyes, paid once, at the typical price per eye
$4,000 – $5,400
2 × $2,000 = $4,000; 2 × $2,700 = $5,400.
Enter what you spend in a year on contact lenses, solution, glasses and exams to see the year the two costs cross. We have no checked figure to put there for you.
Where these numbers come from
- Typical LASIK price per eye: an estimate from 46 centers’ fixed published prices in 26 states (each price and its source), computed Oct 12, 2026
It assumes today’s prices and that what you enter stays the same every year. Whether spending on glasses or contacts stops after surgery is not something arithmetic can say. This is arithmetic on published prices: an estimate, not a quote, and not advice about any treatment or dose. Prices change; each seller’s own page is the authority.
What the arithmetic assumes
That the yearly spending you enter stops, apart from whatever you say you would still spend. That is your figure to set, and the official pages say it should not be taken for granted:
- Among the risks and limits FDA’s checklist lists are that more than one surgery may be needed, that reading glasses may still be needed, and that results may not last.Source: FDA: LASIK surgery checklist (opens in a new tab), content current as of 07/11/2018. Checked October 11, 2026.
The prices behind it
Not medical advice. This page is about what things cost. Prices change: the newest here was seen on its source page on October 11, 2026.
What that means, and how we check prices
Not medical advice
This page is about what things cost. It does not say what anyone should take or have done; that is a decision for you and a licensed clinician. Statements from labels and agencies are quoted from the sources linked beside them and have not been clinically reviewed.
Prices change
Every price here is a published price as it was seen on its source page — the newest on October 11, 2026. Sellers change prices and end offers; the seller’s page is the authority.
How we check prices
Each price is read from the seller’s own page and checked against its source before it appears, with the unit it is quoted in and the conditions printed beside it. Published prices are re-checked monthly. How we estimate · How this site works