Hello Shopping and Frazzled
I had mine done 4 years ago after the birth of 1st DC because I got fed up with not being able to see in the middle of the night and wasn't awake enough during the day to use contacts. I had pretty crap vision too (+3.5 I think, in both eyes)
I had fancied having them done for ages but was too squeemish about eyes and operations to do much about it before then....
...but it was the best thing I have ever done (apart from marriage, kids etc etc ). My eyes are still 20/20 now, which means I have saved the costs of the procedure in glasses and contacts by now. And when I wake up in the morning I can see the time on the alarm clock ! I feel so much better in myself and love having non prescription sunglasses. I still marvel now, 4 years on, how fab it is to not use glasses.
The procedure itself was OK. It was more painful than I thought it would be TBH (I am a bit of a wimp) but it was over in 10 mins, and I asked someone to hold my hand to calm me down, which really helped me. What was also difficult, and I hadn't thought about it beforehand, was that I couldn't see properly for 12 hours afterwards, so I spent that 12 hours thinking I had paid £3k for blinding myself! But after going to sleep, I woke up and could see !
I hope this helps & good luck with any decision. Let me know if you have any specific qs.