Hi Aloysius
For people with low myopia like yourself, the important things to consider are as follows:
1. How much less than 200 degrees is it? eg 50 degrees? or 175 degrees?…
2. How much do you depend on glasses/contact lenses? If you wear glasses/contact lenses a lot of the time, do you consider that to be an inconvenience?
3. What are your daily activities like, and are there any sports or hobbies you do where glasses or contact lenses get in the way?
4. What is your age?
Just to expand a bit on the above, when myopia is of a very low degree, especially if it is less than 100 degrees, the perceived benefit may sometimes not be considered worth the risk and expense of surgery. This is because the degree of blurring is often quite mild in such people. Once it gets above 100 degrees or so, many or most people will feel quite dependent on glasses for many activities in their life.
For point number 2, some people with low degrees of myopia do not bother with glasses or contacts a lot of the time, because they may have adapted to the blur and find that it does not bother them much. If that is the case, or if glasses or contact lenses suit the person just fine, then there is no need for any refractive surgery.
Point 4 really has to do with presbyopia, or 'Lao Hua'. This is a problem that affects everybody once we get to the age of 40 years and above. If a person is already 40 years of age and above, then removing the myopia in both eyes means that there will be need to wear reading glasses for near visual work immediately afterwards.
Note that LASIK does not cause presbyopia, nor does LASIK make it happen any faster than it naturally would anyway.
Also, note that myopic people get presbyopic as well.
The difference is that low myopic people can take off their glasses to read when they get presbyopic. But people who have had LASIK done cannot 'take off their LASIK' to read, ie reading glasses become necessary if myopia is removed in both eyes.
So for people who are above 40 years old and have low myopia, they have to consider how they would like to manage the presbyopia. If they like to take their glasses off to read, then perhaps they should not have LASIK done. On the other hand, they can consider a compromise like monovision (LASIK to correct one eye for distance vision and the other eye for near vision), or they can have LASIK done to correct the myopia and then wear reading glasses for near afterwards.
There is no right or wrong answer, and ultimately the decision is up to the individual, based on various factors such as the points I've brought up above.
