[Annelle]

yeah, before you even think about surgery you should make sure that your prescription is stable for at least a few years.

When it first started getting popular, they did it on everybody who could afford it, but then they're realize that kids who had it done at 18, 20, 23...if their eyes weren't matured all the way (eyes continue to grow/change/mature until your 20's) then they'd get fixed to 20/20 and then their eyes would grow some more and then they'd need glasses again. Kind of like a pair of jeans. If you're buying your last pair ever, you don't want to buy them based on your height when you're 14. Wait until after your growth spurt ends and then buy em.

I think Lasik and PRK got really popular late 80's/early 90's...so the data on safety is only around 20-30 years old yet. (Not a whole lot of info on super long term effects) but there's a lot of people who got it done 10-15 years ago who are fine now.

One thing they did warn me -- if I wait too long, I'll also be dealing with presbyopia, which all people get when they get old. (basically, the eyes get physically old, and they have a harder time focusing...it's why all old people tend to need reading glasses eventually) Anyway, that starts hitting people in their 40's, so if you wait until you're 45 to do the surgery -- you might end up still needing reading glasses in a year or two. If you have the surgery when you're 25, you'll have a good 20 years before having to worry about that. (the surgery can only help near sightedness, far sightedness, and astigmatism. it can't reverse age)