Contact Lenses, LASIK, or EVO ICL? What’s the smart choice for you?

Posted by: Philadelphia Eye Associates in EVO ICL, LASIK Surgery on March 19, 2025

Everyone wants to see as best as possible and over 200 million Americans need glasses or contact lenses to see well. Of these, about 40 million choose to wear contact lenses. We now have safer and better options for permanent correction of vision than ever before, such as modern LASIK technologies and EVO ICL. Around 1 million Americans are electing for vision correction surgery each year. If you are near sighted or have astigmatism, what makes sense for you? Let’s break it down:

Who are more satisfied, contact lens wears or LASIK patients?

Overall, studies have shown that while most people are satisfied with their chosen type of vision correction, patients who have elected to surgically correct their vision are more satisfied with their visual quality than those who forgo LASIK to continue wearing contact lenses or glasses.¹ In fact, by 3 years after the start of a study comparing contact lens wears to contact lens wearers who underwent LASIK, 34% more patients were very satisfied with their vision in LASIK group than were satisfied with their vision in the contact lenses group. Additionally, those LASIK patients actually had fewer night vision problems than those who continued to wear contact lenses. 

Which approach is safest, wearing contact lenses or undergoing vision correction surgery?

One of the biggest concerns of wearing contact lenses or having a surgery is getting an infection. While thankfully these complications are rare, the risk for infection is much higher with contact lens use than it is with LASIK. There are over 10,000 emergency rooms visits every year in the United States for contact lens-related infections. Up to 40% of these infections can lead to permanent changes in vision. Compare this to LASIK and EVO ICL, where statistics are hard to find because infections, while they can occur, are extremely rare. 

Contact lens wearers need to take precautions that aren’t necessary after a LASIK flap or EVO ICL wound has healed, and many contact lens wearers just aren’t cautious enough. For example, you should never swim in contact lenses, you should never sleep in contact lenses (unless directed to do so under the close care of an eye care professional), you need to follow strict sanitary protocols for contact lens insertion, removal, and storage, and you need to have regular checks of your cornea and contact lens fit with an eye care professional.²

What is more economical, contact lenses, LASIK or EVO ICL?

The cost of contact lenses depends on many factors, including the type (daily vs monthly disposable) and the brand of lenses. With rising prices overall in this country, many contact lenses now cost patients over $1,000 per year. Compare this to LASIK and EVO ICL, which typically cost $2,500 per eye for LASIK and $4,250 per eye for EVO ICL, and you can see that for someone who will need correction for decades to come, surgical correction quickly become a very wise investment. 

Not everyone is a candidate for LASIK, EVO ICL, or even for contact lens wear. Consult with your eye care professional to help determine what might work best for you. Consultation ahead of any surgical procedure will require a thorough examination including advanced diagnostic testing and a long discussion about the surgical procedure, risks, and the recovery process. If you wear contact lenses, you’ll need to have final testing done after not wearing those contact lenses for some time (5-14 days).

Good luck with your decision making! 

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¹Three-Year Longitudinal Survey Comparing Visual Satisfaction with LASIK and Contact Lenses. Price, Marianne O. et al. Ophthalmology, Volume 123, Issue 8, 1659 – 1666

²https://www.cdc.gov/contact-lenses/causes/index.html.Accessed March 8, 2025.