Lasik vs. Visian ICL

Yesterday I went to two consultations to see if I might be a candidate for doing refractive eye surgery. I had already gone to a separate informational meeting to learn about it, but this was a full-on screening where they check your eyes and get your prescription.

It turns out I'm a candidate for both Lasik and Visian ICL because of the structure of my eyes and my prescription. From what I can tell, there's a limit to how myopic your eyes can be for Lasik to be effective. If your eyes are too bad, then Lasik doesn't work well (and I think is not approved above a certain diopter). Once you get up into the higher diopters, Visian is more effective. In my situation, I'm stuck between the two options so it's my personal choice which procedure I do.

So what's the difference between the two procedures?

Most people are familiar with Lasik. In this procedure, they use a laser to cut a flap with a hinge in your eye. The use another laser to shape your cornea, which enables you to see better. Then they close the flap and allow the eye to heal.

The Visian ICL (implantable collamer lens) is a lens that is inserted into your eye in front of your natural lens. Together they allow you to see better. Because the lens is within the eye, you can't feel it like a regular contact lens. It's supposed to be permanent, like Lasik, and requires no care at all.

Both procedures cost a pretty penny. Visian ICL costs about 1G per eye more than Lasik. But, Visian ICL is also reversable - the lens can be removed from your eye if a problem occurs. Lasik is permanent - once they laser off those cells, those cells are goners.

Lasik is the more popular option as it has been in the U.S. for a longer period of time. It seems like Visian ICL is the newer technology and will, at some point in time, replace Lasik. It was just FDA approved a couple years ago (although it has been done in Europe for many years).

I'm not sure which surgery option I'm more comfortable with. I'm also not sure how much I want to spend on this. I could always continue to wear contacts. Oh, but the hassle of it all just sucks. Once I pick a procedure, I'll also have to select a surgeon. There are a couple other refractive eye surgeons in town, but I don't think they offer Visian ICL.

I'm also concerned about the side effects and potential complications that may arise due to one of these surgeries. The worst case scenario is that I could go blind because of some kind of infection. Now that would truly suck. However, people with contacts may also get eye infections from bacteria that could lead to vision loss too, I suppose.

Guess I just need to do more research on the two options to see which is a better fit for me. Anyone have any experience getting Lasik or ICLs? The more information I have, the more comfortable I will probably be to make a decision.