Is laser eye surgery cosmetic?

Many people consider laser eye surgery as cosmetic, but I don’t think it is. In reality, people are wearing glasses, they have problems because they can’t do the social things that they want to do. Quite often patients come and they say they go running or they go swimming and they can’t do it without glasses.

The fed up of wearing contact lenses and,  I had one patient who is going to the Arctic who said, if I’d wear contact lenses they’ll freeze on my eye. Therefore, she wanted to be in a situation where she was glasses and contact lens free.

So it’s very much a personal choice. There is a lifestyle component, but it’s not cosmetic surgery. It’s very much a functional thing to enable people to do the things they want to do without the hindrance of glasses or contact lenses.

More about Paul Rosen

Paul Rosen is a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at The Grange Eye Consultants. His special expertise is in laser eye surgery, cataract surgery, and the treatment of Age-related Macular Degeneration, glaucoma, and retinal diseases. He has over 20 years experience in treating people with eye problems. Paul is invited to lecture on cataract and refractive surgery both nationally and internationally. He leads clinical trials investigating novel eye treatments. Paul has served as the President of the UK and Ireland Society of Refractive Surgeons and is currently the President of the European Society of Corneal and Refractive Surgery. More recently I’d been appointed as a member of the NICE Cataract Guidelines Committee and also on the Refractive Surgery Subcommittee of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists.