I had LASEK at Ultralase in Leeds. At the time I was around -5.5 in each eye, with astigmatism.
My reasons were that I was in the Army at the time, and sick of wearing contact lenses. I did it without getting permission (I'd asked during my whole Army career and was told not to get it done) as I'd signed off and was in my last year. It resulted in a medical downgrade for 6 months, but I didn't care as I was getting out anyway. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life as a slave to contacts/glasses for short-sightedness, and my father and Aunt had had surgery prior and couldn't rate it highly enough.
I had a Class 2 medical with VDL, and spoke with the CAA (around 2006) at the time to see how I would go on about getting the Class 1, if surgery was allowed, and how to remove the VDL. At the time there was a limit on eyesight prescription for a Class 1. The ruling was that if your eyesight was outside the limit prior to surgery, then having surgery wouldn't be allowed, but if your eyesight was within the limits, then you could have your eyes "lasered" and then be eligible for a Class 1.
So I had surgery in winter 2006/2007, then my Class 1 initial in October 2007. I'd had all the relevant eye tests post-Surgery which everyone was happy with, me especially as I now had better than 6/6 vision and had gone from barely being able to see the second line down on an eye chart while squinting prior to surgery, to reading the bottom line clearly afterwards.
Anyway, I passed the medical fine and was issued a Class 1, being a bit of a guinea pig at the time and attracting the attention of a few doctors and medical folks while at Gatwick... They took turns to view my eyes through their equipment, and said they probably wouldn't have noticed I'd even had surgery if I hadn't told them. So all in all, I was, and still am very pleased.
I don't suffer from any of the halo effects at night, or have any other problems. No dry eyes, or anything else to report. I did have very slight double vision for probably 1-2 months post surgery, which was attributed to the astigmatism correction on my left eye. So my eyes were now focusing slightly differently, but eventually my body would figure it out - this being the only thing I was ever concerned about afterwards. I only noticed when I was on guard duty a few nights one week on an Army exercise. It was a cold, crisp winters night with a full moon, and if I studied it with the naked eye, it was shadowed by an identical image a few millimetres offset. The more I looked at it, the more it would sort itself out, but if I was to turn away and focus on other things, then back to it, it would be doubled again until my eyes sorted themselves out. After 2 months or so after surgery to present, my eyes have been great. All I can describe it as, is when you get an eye test and a new set of glasses with the latest prescription, where everything is crisp and clear without a struggle... I have that all the time. To have that feeling nowadays, having known what it was like to have poor eyesight in the past, and without needing any correction is nothing short of amazing.
All I know, is that now I'm not having to endure a piece of plastic on my eye that I'm paying £20/month for, or wearing spectacles. I can wake up on a morning and see clearly from the off without the visual disability I had suffered prior to surgery. All in all, I'm chuffed and would recommend it to anyone.
Interestingly enough, I also know an eye surgeon who wears glasses! Their view seems to be that people get the op done for purely cosmetic reasons, and it's not really worth the hassle. It's just another thing that people can do once they've had their teeth fixed and whitened, their lipo's suctioned etc.
I don't feel that, and have my own reasons for having the operation. But each to their own.