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The U.S. Navy's Doctrine of Laser Eye Surgery
The New York Times reports that laser eye surgery — now performed on nearly a third of every new class of midshipmen — is transforming Naval careers. Navy doctors are performing these operations with "assembly-line efficiency," allowing older pilots to continue flying, and those who might otherwise have been disqualified to pursue flight school. The number of procedures has reportedly climbed from 50 to 349 over the past five years. The Navy uses a different procedure than that used on civilians — grinding the cornea rather than cutting a flap — out of fears that the flap could come loose in supersonic combat.
Though most of us are not business majors, isn't this the perfect place to run a cost-benefit analysis? Wouldn't it go something like this (in your perferred unit of currency)...
(what improved vision is worth to you) * (success rate, or 1 - your defined failure rate)
- (what avoiding a complication is worth to you) * (complication rate)
- (cost of procedure)
if this is a positive number, then get the surgery. If it's not, try something else or wait until you want improved vision more than before.
The take-home message is that you have to want or need the improved vision at least the cost of the surgery more than you fear the chance of realistically suffering a complication.