LASIK vs Glasses & Contacts Calculator
LASIK against glasses and contacts
Your result will appear here
Fill in the fields on the left and this updates as you type.
Know what this estimate is based on
- Jurisdiction
- General mathematical model
- Scope and limitations
- Educational estimate only. Confirm the assumptions, current rules, fees, and rounding that apply to your situation before making a decision.
- Source links checked
- Jul 30, 2026
Built and regression-tested by Smart Tools Lab. It has not been individually reviewed by a licensed financial, tax, or legal professional.
How to use
- 01
Enter the quote your surgeon gave you for both eyes and the number of years to compare the two paths over. Those are the fields the page waits for.
- 02
Enter your age, then what you spend in a year on glasses, on contact lenses and solution, and on eye exams. Spread the cost of frames and lenses over how long a pair actually lasts.
- 03
Enter what your vision plan contributes toward all of that in a year, so the comparison uses what you really pay rather than the sticker prices.
- 04
Say whether you would pay with HSA or FSA dollars, enter 1 for yes, and give your marginal tax rate. Laser eye surgery to treat defective vision is a qualified medical expense, so this is the largest discount available on it.
- 05
Read the break-even year, then the year-by-year table of both running totals, and the insights on reading glasses, enhancements and how your quote compares with the national average.
Formula
Surgery path at the start = the quote − the tax saved if paid with HSA or FSA dollars (the quote × your marginal rate) + the expected enhancement (its cost × the chance of needing one) + any interest if it is financed. Then each year it adds eye exams, plus reading glasses once your age reaches the reading-glasses age. Glasses path each year = glasses + contacts and solution + eye exams − what the vision plan contributes, never below zero, repeated every year. Break-even = the first year in which the glasses path's running total reaches or passes the surgery path's. Totals over the period are the two running totals at the last year. The financed monthly payment is the ordinary amortizing-payment formula on the quote, and its interest is counted in the surgery path so the comparison stays fair.
Example
A surgeon quotes $4,400 for both eyes, 2% below the $4,492 national average the American Refractive Surgery Council reported in June 2026. The patient is 35 and spends $250 a year on glasses, $600 on contact lenses and solution and $150 on eye exams, $1,000 in all, less $150 from the vision plan: $850 a year. Paid from an HSA or FSA at a 30% marginal rate the quote costs $1,320 less, and an enhancement priced at $800 with a 10% chance adds $80 as an expected cost, so the surgery path starts at $3,160 and then rises by the $150 of exams that continue either way. The glasses path passes it in year 5. Over ten years the surgery path costs $4,660 and glasses and contacts $8,500, a difference of $3,840. Paid after tax instead of from an HSA, the crossing moves to year 7 and the difference falls to $2,520. Because the patient is 35 and the reading-glasses age is set at 45, readers fall just outside the ten years compared and none are counted.
Definitions
- LASIK
- Laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis, a procedure that reshapes the cornea to correct refractive error. IRS Publication 502 treats eye surgery to correct defective vision as a qualified medical expense.
- Break-even year
- The first year in which the running cost of continuing with glasses and contacts reaches what the surgery path has cost. It moves with your yearly spending and with whether the quote is paid pre-tax.
- Presbyopia
- The age-related stiffening of the eye's lens that makes close focus harder. The American Academy of Ophthalmology says it happens to everyone eventually after 40, and distance correction does not prevent it.
- Enhancement
- A further procedure to refine a result that has drifted or fallen short. Priced here as its cost multiplied by the chance of needing one, because it is a possibility rather than a certainty.
- Vision plan contribution
- What a vision plan pays each year toward frames, lenses, contacts and exams. It lowers the glasses path but usually does nothing for surgery, which most vision plans treat as elective.
Good to know
What actually goes into each of the two paths
A fair comparison between surgery and continuing with glasses and contacts depends almost entirely on getting both sides honest, and most informal comparisons overstate one and understate the other. On the surgery side, the cost is not simply the quote. This page starts from the quote, subtracts the tax saved if it is paid with HSA or FSA dollars, adds the expected cost of an enhancement, and adds any interest if the procedure is financed. In the example a $4,400 quote paid pre-tax at a 30% marginal rate saves $1,320; an enhancement priced at $800 with a 10% chance of being needed adds $80; nothing is financed. The surgery path therefore starts at $3,160 rather than $4,400. It then keeps rising, because eye exams continue whether or not you have had surgery, at $150 a year in the example, and because reading glasses are added once you reach the age at which presbyopia is expected. That is why the surgery path never flattens to zero, and a comparison that assumes it does will always flatter the procedure. On the glasses side, the figure that matters is what you really spend in a year, net of the vision plan. The example uses $250 a year on glasses, $600 on contact lenses and solution and $150 on exams, $1,000 in all, less $150 from the vision plan, giving $850 a year. Two mistakes are common here. People quote the price of their last pair of glasses rather than spreading it over the three or four years the pair lasts, which overstates the annual figure. And people forget solution, replacement lenses and the exams the contact lens prescription requires, which understates it. The most reliable method is to look back over two or three years of card statements and divide. Because the break-even year is driven by this single number, it is worth ten minutes of checking before reading anything into the result.
Pre-tax dollars are the largest discount on the procedure
Most vision plans treat laser correction as elective and contribute little or nothing toward it, which leads people to conclude that insurance is irrelevant to the decision. It is not, because the tax code does something better than a discount. IRS Publication 502 states that you can include in medical expenses the amount you pay for eye surgery to treat defective vision, such as laser eye surgery or radial keratotomy. That makes the procedure payable from a health savings account or a health flexible spending arrangement with money that has never been taxed. At a 30% combined marginal rate, federal, state and payroll, that takes $1,320 off a $4,400 quote, and it is available to anyone with access to either account. In the example it also moves the break-even from year 7 to year 5, which is a larger effect on the decision than most price negotiations would achieve. The two accounts behave differently for a single large bill, and the difference matters for timing. An FSA makes the entire year's election available from the first day of the plan year, so a procedure in February can be paid from an election that will be deducted from pay across the following eleven months. An HSA has no such feature; the money must be in the account before it can be spent, though an HSA carries over indefinitely and can be built up deliberately over a couple of years. The 2026 limits bound both routes: the health FSA salary-reduction limit is $3,400 and the HSA self-only contribution limit is $4,400, so a quote above those figures has to be split across accounts, across two plan years, or paid partly with after-tax money. It is also worth knowing the alternative if neither account is available. Paid out of pocket, the same expense counts toward the itemized medical deduction, but only the part above 7.5% of adjusted gross income, and only if you itemize, so for most households it does nothing.
Reading glasses arrive anyway, and the comparison should say so
One of the more common disappointments after laser vision correction has nothing to do with the surgery going wrong. It is the discovery, some years later, that reading glasses are needed after all. The reason is presbyopia, and it is a separate condition from the refractive error that surgery corrects. The American Academy of Ophthalmology describes presbyopia as happening to everyone eventually after age 40, caused by the eye's natural lens becoming thicker and less flexible so that close focus becomes difficult, and notes that between the ages of 40 and 60 the lens continues to lose flexibility, so a reading prescription typically needs changing from time to time. Correcting distance vision does not prevent any of that. An honest financial comparison has to account for it, because otherwise the surgery path is credited with eliminating a cost that will partly return. This page handles it with an editable age field, opening at 45 inside the range the Academy describes, and a yearly cost for readers. From that age onward, the surgery path picks up a reading-glasses line. Whether it affects your own result depends on your age and the period you compare. In the example the patient is 35 and the comparison runs ten years, reaching age 44, so the reading-glasses age of 45 falls just outside the window and no readers are counted; the page says so explicitly rather than silently omitting them. Extend the comparison to twenty years and they would be counted for the last ten. Someone already in their forties would see them from the first year. The practical lesson is not that presbyopia undermines the case for surgery. Readers are inexpensive compared with a contact lens habit, and the glasses path is paying for near correction too. The lesson is that the benefit being bought is distance vision for a period of years, not permanent freedom from all eyewear, and a comparison that promises the latter is not describing what the procedure does.
Reading a quote, and what a break-even year can tell you
The American Refractive Surgery Council, on a page dated June 2026, reports a national average of $4,492 for both eyes, or $2,250 an eye. That is a useful anchor, and this page reports your own quote against it, but a price comparison between providers is less straightforward than the figure suggests because quotes do not all cover the same things. Before comparing two numbers, establish what each includes: the pre-operative measurements and evaluation, which technology is being used, how many follow-up visits are covered and for how long, and above all whether a retreatment is included, since that is the item most likely to appear later as a separate bill. Get each quote itemized in writing. Advertised prices well below the average frequently apply only to small corrections or to older technology, with the actual price rising after the evaluation, so the headline figure and the figure you would pay may differ considerably. The break-even year deserves similar care in interpretation. In the example the two paths cross in year 5 when the quote is paid with pre-tax dollars and in year 7 when it is not, and over ten years the surgery path costs $4,660 against $8,500 for glasses and contacts. Those numbers are arithmetic, and they are only as good as the yearly spending figure they rest on. A daily contact lens wearer with a strong prescription may cross in three or four years; someone who wears glasses only and replaces them every four years may never cross at all within any period they care about. Change the yearly figure by a little and watch the crossing move, because that sensitivity is the real output of the page. Finally, the financial comparison is one input among several and not the decisive one. Whether a person is a suitable candidate is a clinical question for a surgeon, outcomes differ between individuals and between eyes, and no calculator can promise a result.
Frequently asked questions
Is LASIK cheaper than glasses and contacts in the long run?
It depends on how much you actually spend now and how long you compare. In this page's example a $4,400 quote paid with pre-tax dollars against $850 a year of vision spending crosses in year 5, and over ten years costs $4,660 against $8,500, a difference of $3,840. Paid after tax instead, the crossing moves to year 7 and the difference falls to $2,520. Someone who wears glasses only and replaces them rarely may never reach a break-even at all.
How much does LASIK cost?
The American Refractive Surgery Council, on a page dated June 2026, reports a national average of $4,492 for both eyes, or $2,250 an eye. Individual quotes vary a great deal with technology, surgeon and location. Price is not the only difference: what the fee includes, which measurements and follow-up visits come with it, and whether a retreatment is covered all change what you are comparing, so get every quote itemized in writing.
Can I use an HSA or FSA to pay for LASIK?
Yes. IRS Publication 502 says you can include the amount you pay for eye surgery to treat defective vision, such as laser eye surgery or radial keratotomy. In the example that saves $1,320 on a $4,400 quote at a 30% marginal rate. An FSA makes the whole year's election available from the first day of the plan year, which suits one large bill; an HSA needs the money in the account first. The 2026 FSA limit is $3,400 and the HSA self-only limit is $4,400, so a larger quote has to be split across accounts, years, or paid partly after tax.
Will I still need reading glasses after LASIK?
Almost certainly, in time. The American Academy of Ophthalmology says presbyopia happens to everyone eventually after age 40, and that the eye's lens keeps losing flexibility between 40 and 60. Correcting distance vision does not prevent it. The page therefore adds a reading-glasses cost to the surgery path from the age you set, which opens at 45. In the example the patient is 35 and the comparison runs ten years, so age 45 falls just outside it and no readers are counted; a longer comparison would add them.
Does the comparison count eye exams?
Yes, on both paths, because they are needed either way. That is why the surgery path in the example keeps rising by $150 a year rather than flattening to zero after the procedure. It starts at $3,160, the $4,400 quote less $1,320 of tax plus $80 for an expected enhancement, and reaches $4,660 after ten years of exams.
What is an enhancement and should I budget for one?
An enhancement, or touch-up, is a further procedure if the first result drifts or falls short. The page counts it as an expected value rather than a certainty: in the example $800 at a 10% chance adds $80 to the surgery path. The chance is deliberately yours to set, because rates differ by surgeon, prescription and how retreatment is priced, and many quotes include retreatment for a period. Ask whether yours does, and for how long.
Does this page tell me whether I should have LASIK?
No. It prices a quote you already have against what you would otherwise keep spending. Whether anyone is a candidate for the procedure at all is a clinical question for a surgeon, outcomes vary between people and between eyes, and nothing here promises a result. Treat the break-even year as one input to the decision rather than the decision itself.