I talked to my eye doctor about this last year. Keep in mind, he RESELLS this, so I would have thought it was in his interest to accentuate the positive.

He was very careful to warn me about side effects. All the things JoeGreen described. In certain cases, the procedure fails. All these side effects are reduced in both frequency and intensity from five years ago, but they're still fairly common.

My decision was to stick to contacts, keep a spare sealed pair of contacts and keep some glasses in my bag.

If you get the extended-wear variety, you won't need to fiddle with them at all in a survival situation. I spent 6 days on the appalachian trail this spring, and wore my contacts continuously throughout. You should take them out once a week overnight, but since I keep eyedrops, the case and a couple antibacterial wipes in my EDC that isn't a problem.

I figure in an accident or disaster emergency in my (urban) area, I could go one week without worrying about my contacts at all. Longer if I push it, and one night with them out would reset the timer. By then if I'm not in safety, then my other preparations start running out anyway.

Anywy, not to say that this is the best way. But surgery is not without its risks. Glasses get lost, break, etc. You get better peripheral vision from contacts.