Is Laser Eye Surgery Worth It? 10-Year Cost vs Glasses and Contacts

Short answer: If you spend about $900 a year on glasses and prescription sunglasses, that adds up to $9,000 over 10 years and $18,000 over 20. Laser eye surgery for both eyes at Focus Vision costs $7,000 for TransPRK or $8,500 for LASIK or CLEAR, paid once and all-inclusive except prescribed eye drops. At that rate, laser pays for itself in about 8 to 9.5 years, and sooner if you wear daily contact lenses. Most people still need reading glasses from their mid-40s (NEI), so the savings are biggest if you have surgery in your 20s or 30s.

Money isn’t the only reason people choose laser eye surgery, and it isn’t right for everyone. But “is it worth it?” is a fair question, and the arithmetic is simpler than most people expect. This guide sets out the numbers and what they leave out, and includes a calculator for your own figures.

The 10-year cost at a glance

Option	Each year	10 years	20 years
Glasses and prescription sunglasses	about $900	$9,000	$18,000
Monthly contact lenses, solution and backup glasses	about $800	$8,000	$16,000
Daily contact lenses and backup glasses	about $1,200	$12,000	$24,000
TransPRK, both eyes	paid once	$7,000	$7,000
LASIK or CLEAR (SMILE), both eyes	paid once	$8,500	$8,500

The yearly figures are typical examples, not quotes. Your own spending may be higher or lower, so use the calculator below with your own numbers. Laser prices are from our costs page and don’t include prescribed eye drops after surgery.

How much do glasses cost over 10 years?

Our example of about $900 a year is for one pair of prescription glasses and one pair of prescription sunglasses, replaced every year or two as frames wear out or your prescription changes. Over 10 years that is $9,000.

Your number may differ a lot. Thin high-index lenses for a strong prescription, progressive lenses, a spare pair, sports glasses, or a habit of sitting on your glasses all push the cost up. Health fund optical benefits bring it down, although you pay for those benefits through your premiums.

The easiest way to find your own figure is to add up your receipts for the last two or three years and divide by the number of years.

How much do contact lenses cost in Australia?

Contact lens costs depend mainly on the type of lens:

• Daily disposables. When we checked major Australian retailers in late October 2026, a 90-pack of daily lenses was mostly about $75 to $145. Both eyes use about 730 lenses a year, or roughly eight boxes, so that is about $600 to $1,200 a year in lenses alone. Lenses for astigmatism or for reading usually cost more.
• Monthly lenses. The lenses cost less, but you also buy cleaning solution and replace your lens case.
• Contact lens check-ups. Your optometrist will want to check how the lenses sit on your eyes, usually once a year.
• Backup glasses. Almost everyone who wears contact lenses also needs a pair of glasses for evenings, sore eyes and travel, and many buy prescription sunglasses too.

Put together, daily lenses with backup glasses often come to around $1,200 a year, or $12,000 over 10 years. Monthly lenses with backup glasses are often around $800 a year.

Laser eye surgery: one price, paid once

Laser eye surgery in Australia is priced per eye. At Focus Vision the prices are fixed and all-inclusive:

Procedure	Per eye	Both eyes	Interest-free plan
TransPRK	$3,500	$7,000	from $34 a week per eye
LASIK or Ray Tracing LASIK	$4,250	$8,500	from $41 a week per eye
CLEAR (SMILE-type lenticule extraction)	$4,250	$8,500	from $41 a week per eye

The price includes your assessments, the surgery, 12 months of follow-up and free enhancements for two years if your surgeon judges them worthwhile, under our enhancement policy. Prescribed eye drops are bought separately from a pharmacy. Interest-free plans run over 24 months. See paying for laser eye surgery for how the plans work, and our laser eye surgery page for how LASIK, CLEAR and TransPRK compare.

When does laser eye surgery pay for itself?

Divide the price for both eyes by what you spend each year:

What you spend each year	TransPRK ($7,000)	LASIK or CLEAR ($8,500)
$500	about 14 years	about 17 years
$800	about 9 years	about 11 years
$900	about 8 years	about 9.5 years
$1,200	about 6 years	about 7 years
$1,500	about 5 years	about 6 years

After that point, every year without glasses or contact lenses is money you keep.

The catch: reading glasses after your mid-40s

Laser eye surgery corrects your distance prescription. It doesn’t stop the natural ageing of the lens inside your eye. According to the US National Eye Institute, everyone gets presbyopia, the gradual loss of close focus, usually after age 45 (NEI).

That changes the sums depending on your age:

• In your 20s or early 30s, you may have 15 to 20 years or more without any glasses before reading glasses come along. This is where laser saves the most.
• In your late 30s or 40s, you get fewer glasses-free years before you need help for reading. Simple reading glasses usually cost much less than prescription distance glasses, but include them in your sums.
• In your late 40s and 50s, it is worth asking about treatments that also help reading, such as Laser Blended Vision. LASIK is generally offered between 18 and 55; after that, refractive lens exchange may suit you better.

Our guide to laser eye surgery and reading glasses explains the options in more detail.

What the simple sums leave out

A fair comparison also counts these:

• Prescribed eye drops after surgery are extra. They are bought from a pharmacy, and some may be PBS-subsidised.
• Time off work. Most people return to desk work 1 to 2 days after LASIK, a few days after CLEAR and about a week after TransPRK. See the recovery timeline.
• Health insurance. Medicare doesn’t cover laser eye surgery done to correct your prescription, and services not on the Medicare schedule, “such as elective cosmetic surgery or laser eye surgery”, are covered by private hospital insurance only to a limited extent or not at all (privatehealth.gov.au). A few extras policies pay a benefit; see which health funds cover laser eye surgery.
• Regular eye checks are still worthwhile after laser eye surgery, as they are for everyone, to look after the health of your eyes.
• How long the result lasts. Laser permanently reshapes the cornea, and most people’s distance vision stays stable for many years. See how long laser eye surgery lasts.

Is it worth it beyond the money?

For many people the main benefits aren’t financial: swimming, sport, travel and waking up able to see the clock. The research gives a reasonable picture of how people feel afterwards:

• In a three-year US study of 1,800 people, 88% of former contact lens wearers and 77% of former glasses wearers were strongly satisfied with LASIK at three years. Among people who kept wearing contact lenses, 54% were strongly satisfied with them (Price et al., 2016).
• A review of LASIK studies published from 2008 to 2015 found that 1.2% of patients were dissatisfied (Sandoval et al., 2016).

Contact lenses are safe for most people, but they carry a small infection risk. An Australian study found the yearly rate of contact lens-related corneal infection (microbial keratitis) was about 2 in 10,000 daily disposable wearers, and much higher, around 20 to 25 in 10,000, in people who wore soft lenses overnight (Stapleton et al., 2008).

Laser eye surgery has risks too, including dry eyes and night glare, which usually settle but don’t always. Our guide to dry eyes and halos after LASIK explains what to expect, and our surgeons go through your individual risks at your consultation.

When cost shouldn’t be the deciding factor

Laser eye surgery isn’t suitable for everyone, whatever the savings:

• Your prescription should be stable. If it is still changing, wait.
• Some eyes suit other options better. Thin corneas or very high prescriptions may be better treated with an implantable contact lens, which costs $7,000 per eye and changes the sums; see ICL cost in Australia.
• Some people shouldn’t have laser at all. Our guides to whether you are suitable and who should not have laser eye surgery explain why.

How to work out your own number

1. Add up what you spent on glasses, prescription sunglasses, contact lenses, solutions and check-ups over the last two or three years.
2. Divide by the number of years to get your yearly spend.
3. Subtract any health fund optical benefit you would lose or keep, if it matters to you.
4. Divide the laser price for both eyes ($7,000 or $8,500) by your yearly spend. That is roughly how many years it takes to pay for itself.
5. Think about your age and when you are likely to need reading glasses.

Or simply enter your yearly costs in the calculator above.

References

1. National Eye Institute. Presbyopia. nei.nih.gov
2. Price MO, Price DA, Bucci FA Jr, Durrie DS, Bond WI, Price FW Jr. Three-year longitudinal survey comparing visual satisfaction with LASIK and contact lenses. Ophthalmology. 2016;123(8):1659-1666. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27208981
3. Sandoval HP, Donnenfeld ED, Kohnen T, et al. Modern laser in situ keratomileusis outcomes. J Cataract Refract Surg. 2016;42(8):1224-1234. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27531300
4. Stapleton F, Keay L, Edwards K, et al. The incidence of contact lens-related microbial keratitis in Australia. Ophthalmology. 2008;115(10):1655-1662. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18538404
5. Australian Government. What is covered by private health insurance. privatehealth.gov.au

Start with a free optometrist assessment to find out whether laser eye surgery suits you. Every patient proceeding to surgery then has a paid consultation with a specialist surgeon to confirm suitability, discuss their procedure and plan surgery. The consultation fee is deducted from the surgery price. See consultation and pricing details.