I recently had LASIK at Woolfson Eye Institute here in Atlanta, and the moment I shared the news on Instagram, your messages poured in: curious, nervous, wildly enthusiastic, and more than a few from fellow contact-lens loathers. So, I opened the floor and invited you to ask me absolutely anything! Below are your best questions, answered with the candor you’ve come to expect and perhaps slightly more emotion than you would anticipate!
A note before we begin: my LASIK procedure was provided by Woolfson Eye Institute in partnership with The Lauren Letter. As ever, every opinion is entirely my own! Everyone’s eyes are different, so your own consult is where your personal answers live.
The Lauren Letter will always be free. But if this space has become something you look forward to—a small ritual in your week, a source of inspiration, a reminder to approach life with more intention—you now have the option to support it.
“Tell us everything!! LASIK is literally my dream. Deathly scared of contacts.”
It begins with a consultation: a thorough eye exam to determine whether you’re a LASIK candidate, followed by a walk through every option available to you. From there, you book your procedure date. Mine came just ten days after my consult!
Procedure day is a roughly three-hour affair at the center, after which a designated driver whisks you home. Within 24 hours, the vast majority of patients are seeing 20/20 or better (I landed in the “better” column, thank you very much!) and are cleared to drive. Then come the periodic check-ins: one week, three weeks, three months, six months, and one year.
What made you want to get it done?
I have worn glasses for nearly my entire life and contacts for twenty-two years. I was, to put it delicately, blind as a bat. I genuinely could not see my own hand in front of my face. LASIK always hovered at the edge of my mind, but my prescription kept worsening through law school and my early years of practice, and then life, as it does, got in the way. It was at my annual optometrist appointment this summer that I finally began asking about options, and the bee lodged itself firmly in my bonnet.
Turning thirty also brought a dawning appreciation for the very real safety concerns of near-blindness. I started having nightmares about a car accident in which my contacts fell out and left me stranded. Then came a middle-of-the-night fire alarm on vacation: I couldn’t find my glasses, and Carter essentially carried me down three flights of stairs. Let us simply say I would not have survived the Regency era!
Why did you go with Woolfson?
A confession: Woolfson was actually not my first stop. I initially booked a consult with another Atlanta provider that my optomitrist recommended and arrived only to learn that no one had mentioned a rather crucial instruction. You can’t wear contacts for three to five days before a LASIK consult. I’m generally quick to forgive a misstep; we are all human, after all! But a lapse in basic, care-centered communication, paired with a notably unapologetic response once they realized they’d dropped the ball (and squandered my morning), left me with one firm conviction — this was not the team I wanted pointing a laser at my eyeballs.
So I crowdsourced from my audience and from friends of friends, and the verdict was resoundingly clear: Woolfson Eye Institute. Dr. Woolfson specializes exclusively in LASIK (though the practice offers more) and has performed more than 100,000 procedures.
What truly took my breath away, though, was the patient care. The moment I booked, I was told about pausing my contacts (very important!), then reminded again with perfectly timed texts. The team is among the loveliest, most joyful groups of people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, and they are wholeheartedly passionate about the life-changing work they do. For a practice of that volume, my single procedure felt remarkably individual and tailored, and everyone I’ve spoken with who has gone there says precisely the same.
Best tips for choosing a LASIK provider?
My first tip is delightfully simple: go to Woolfson Eye Institute!!! Dr. Woolfson has locations across Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, and Tennessee.
If you live beyond the Southeast, seek out a practice with the same hallmarks: impressive procedure volume, cornea-fellowship-trained specialists, and, crucially, not so much as a whiff of the bargain bin.
How long does the procedure take?
Precisely one Bohemian Rhapsody: five minutes and fifty-five seconds.
At Woolfson Eye Institute, patients usually choose the song that plays during their procedure, but as the last patient of the day, I was let in on a house tradition: the day’s final procedure is always set to "Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen. I accepted with tremendous enthusiasm. I climbed onto the bed as the song began, and by its closing notes I was sitting up and reading a clock across the room!
Was it scary to be awake while they worked on your eyes? I want to do it so badly.
I will declare, without a shred of shame, that I am a wimp! And yes, there were nerves right beforehand. But I was so thrilled about a procedure that felt like pure magic that my excitement simply outran my fear.
It isn’t painful. At most, you’ll feel some uncomfortable pressure on the eye; numbing drops are administered beforehand, so you don’t actually feel a thing. Woolfson Eye Institute also allows a loved one to sit beside you and hold your hand throughout, which makes an enormous difference.
Being wide awake also made the result infinitely sweeter. I sat up, fully alert, and promptly burst into tears, because my life had changed in an instant. I hadn’t been able to read a clock without glasses or contacts since kindergarten. I was overcome, and soon the entire procedure room staff and business team were crying right along with me. That moment is worth any flutter of nerves or passing discomfort, every single time.
How has your recovery been?!
Beyond easy. After the procedure, you wait about thirty minutes for Dr. Woolfson to check your eyes, then receive another round of numbing drops. Those last roughly thirty minutes, which gave me just enough time to get home, slip into pajamas, and fall asleep. Some brief itchiness crept in before I drifted off (discomfort, never pain), and when I woke three to four hours later, it had vanished entirely.
The true hardship of the first 48 hours? No screens and no reading. Rather to my surprise, I relished the digital detox and became thoroughly hooked on an excellent audiobook. I still managed drinks with a girlfriend and a visit to a friend’s new baby; you simply keep your very fetching protective glasses on as an extra layer of defense.
After those first 48 hours, the glasses are only required for sleep. For the first week, I skipped eye makeup and anything more strenuous than a walk for movement. Dr. Woolfson’s team also suggests that patients who wear makeup purchase new mascara and eyeliner out of an abundance of caution, which is the most medically sanctioned excuse for a beauty haul I have ever received!
What are the side effects like?
Once the numbing drops wear off, your eyes may feel uncomfortable while open; itchy is the closest word I have. Closing them brought immediate relief. After the first 24 hours, and for about a week, I had some dry eyes, which lubricating drops handled beautifully. There was also a touch of blurriness, a few halos, and some sensitivity to light, though nothing that kept me from driving, working, or playing. Then, like clockwork, at the one-week mark the dryness lifted and my vision turned perfectly crisp.
How did the experience differ from what you expected?
Two surprises. First, I hadn’t realized I would need to forgo contacts for the two weeks before my procedure. Annoying at worst (I loathe working out in glasses and polishing them all day long), but it made LASIK day feel all the more exciting!
Second, I did not anticipate how thoroughly I would adore the Woolfson Eye Institute team. Medical procedures can feel intensely clinical, yet every single person I’ve met there, from reception to the providers to the business team, is warm, kind, joyful, and plainly passionate about what they do.
What is the investment like?
Woolfson Eye Institute is quite proud of not being a discount provider. Their website states it plainly: “We are certainly not the cheapest LASIK provider, nor do we want to be.” I find that rather refreshing. Just as you’d invest in a beautiful hotel for a long-awaited holiday or cleaner food for your family, you are paying for a better experience, and your eyesight is no place to go bargain hunting.
All that said, I find their pricing remarkably fair for something so life-changing, particularly once you factor in their Lifetime Assurance Plan and the small fortune I’m now saving by no longer ordering daily contacts.
Are you anxious your eyes will worsen?
Not in the slightest, because LASIK at Woolfson Eye Institute comes with their Lifetime Assurance Plan. Provided you keep up with their very manageable post-operative requirements (and why on earth wouldn’t you?), you’re entitled to retreatments, known as enhancements, free of charge for life. Most patients need only a single successful treatment, but a small percentage may require a slight fine-tuning down the road. Should that be me someday, it’s no great matter, in time or in money.
Are you happy?
Beyond!! My single greatest regret is not doing this at Woolfson Eye Institute sooner. I still pinch myself each morning when I wake up and can actually see my husband, my sweet puppy, and the sunrise. It is, quite truly, one of the best decisions I have ever made.
But what about your cute glasses?!
Rest easy — I had them fitted with blue light lenses! :)
Still curious?
That’s a wrap on round one, but I suspect you have more questions, and I would love nothing more than to answer them! Leave yours in the comments below!
P.S. I promise to always keep The Lauren Letter free as my little exercise of trying to make the world a bit more beautiful. If, in return, you could considering giving this post a “like” or share with a friend, it would just mean the world to me.
This is so interesting and I’m so happy for you !!