Many surgeons have performed thousands of successful surgeries. I’d have to say that those odds are a sight better than a crap shoot.
Pardon the pun.
Yes, my new pair of glasses are daintly little things. They’re kind of cute. So far it’s not so bad to have glasses that I wear sometimes, when I need distance vision.
Before the LASIK procedure I could barely walk around my own house without glasses. I couldn’t read without them - I couldn’t so much as read the speedometer when sitting in my car. While I was happy to do the surgery the first time, I don’t think I’d do it again just to alleviate the minor inconvenience that I’m experiencing now.
I had it about 3 years ago–severe myopia, astigmatism, presbyopia. Without glasses, I absolutely couldn’t see anything beyond about 6-10 inches from my eyes. At the time, I was the “worst” case done by the dr. I’ve had no problems other than needing the moisturizing drops a few times a day, which is normal. No reading glasses, nada. I had had glasses/contacts for 40 years when I had it done. And there is no pain with the procedure.
I wouldn’t say it’s “normal” to need drops a few times a day 3 years post-surgery. It’s maybe not uncommon, but it’s not usual, either. I did the recommended drops for a few months, maybe, and haven’t needed them since.
The degree of correction I experienced does come with the “normal” need for drops (I’m talking about maybe 3 times a day max, anyway). I had three different types of corrections to each eye–my ophthalmologist is so pleased with my progress he’s written a paper on it. Smeg–don’t mean to sound snarky, but are you in the medical field?
Well, dude- with your level of correction, maybe so. But I had a 9 diopter correction, etc, and I only needed drops for a few months, tapering off (I still carried them and used them very occ even a year later). And that was “normal” for Lasiks.
So, I’m still alive, and I appreciate any references to the fact that I’ve ever been well respected (or even heard of) here 
Surgery was over in something like ten minutes, spent about an hour in the clinic. They gave me some pain killers and uppers a few minutes beforehand (enough to make me a bit dizzy) and then I laid down on a bed with an indentation to keep my head steady. The doctor sat behind me and held my head steady, and the nurse applied a Clockwork Orange-contraption to keep my eyelids open. After that they dripped a local analgesic onto my eyeballs, and then went to zapping. It didn’t hurt at all, but the smell of my eyeballs burning was a bit freaky. After the op they put a couple of contact lenses onto my eyes as bandaids and then sent me home with a bag of shiny pills.
Anyway, the last few days have been mostly a blur. My eyesight has been coming and going, and a bit weird at times, like the fact that I can’t read up close, but I can read a sign across the street. Mostly I’ve been spending my days beneath a blanket, listening to books on tape and eating pie that my girlfriend made me. Today is the first day I’ve felt like moving around, so a friend of mine is coming by with her kid. Eyes are dry, but I alleviate this with eye drops and taking hot showers. The contact lenses are coming out tonight, so I’ve saved up a couple of citodons for the occasion.
Excuse the rambling text, but my eyes a a bit dry
As DrDeth said, it may be normal for what you had done, but it’s not normal for LASIK in general. I wouldn’t have bothered mentioning it, except I had the thought that people considering getting it done may read what you posted and be put off by the thought of having to use drops for years, so I wanted to clarify that for most people, that’s not the case.
And no, I’m not exactly in the medical field, but I am a biologist and I researched the procedure fairly rigorously when I had it done, so I daresay I know a little more than the average man on the street,
Well, even the folks who deserve to meet their end seldom get a eulogy along the lines of, “He was a butt-head, and we’re glad he’s gone.”
it’s been 10 years since my lasik procedure, and other than occasional mild dryness to the eyes, which is typical for my age range post-lasik, my vision has held up fine right about 20-20 to 20-30 for distance.
close-up is shot, of course, but that was deliberately sacrificed for long vision. i couldn’t have recognized my own mother at five feet without glasses, and even then i would have squinted.
today, i can’t read much of anything without a pair of walmart cheaps as mentioned upthread, and I’m fine with that. in the right light i can read a book without glasses, but then i have to contend with light sensitivity, too, but i’ve always had that. my night vision remains as good as when i first had the surgery.
the biggest reason i had it done in the first place was the fact that even with corrective glasses, i was starting to have trouble judging the distance between the hood of my car and the rear bumper of someone in front of me - and this during the day! not good when you’re piloting a half-ton or so of wheeled vehicle and the leos would have had absolutely no sense of humor about me rear-ending some soccer mom. 
today, i keep non-scrip preservative-free drops on hand and use on occasion. still worth it, as the benefits far outweigh the minor negatives.