While we were still working and scrimping and saving to be able to retire a little early (and we really wanted to retire early and get down here!), my wife needed cataract surgery. Our health insurance policy basically said that A) they would cover the surgery but only the more primitive scalpel approach, not the cutting-edge laser approach and B) they would cover the lenses but only the cheap plastic marble ones and not ones that would actually improve her vision as opposed to merely restore her vision. We bit the bullet and went for the laser surgery with the step-up lenses. For here, there were two levels of step-up lenses. The first level would help her astigmatism and might even help her farsightedness. The next level up would "most likely" cure her farsightedness. We were able to swing the lasers and the first level but decided to stop short of the even more expensive second level. She had the surgeries, all went well, her astigmatism is basically gone, her distant vision is the best its been in years but she does still need glasses for closer things. Rather than stash pairs of reading glasses everywhere (which is my own approach), she decided to get progressive bifocal lens glasses. The top part is basically non-prescription and the bottom is for reading and staring at her phone. It would have been nice to have had the "perfect" vision (not that there were any guarantees on that) but her vision is the best it has been since she was a kid. Probably the only thing that has gotten worse is that she sees some halos around light sources at night so her night vision is perhaps not as good. Still, the operation was well worth it for fixing her glaucoma and the lens upgrades were worth it for the improved vision.
Of course, your results may vary. There are no guarantees to this. We can't recommend any local surgeons as this was done back in North Carolina. Good luck!
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