Creative Financing for Your Laser Eye Surgery

If you've done your research and decided that LASIK surgery is the route you want to take, then your next step is to contact a doctor in your area and get a consultation (usually free) to see first if you're a candidate and also how much you can expect the procedure to cost based on your individual health and eye issues.

There are a number of ways to pay for our laser eye surgery and for some people, a little creative financing may be in order.

Insurance won't be an option for many individuals as coverage will vary and most of the procedures done in a traditional laser eye surgery are considered elective and voluntary and therefore not necessary. This means insurance generally won't be helpful in meeting the cost of your laser surgery. But, don't despair! There are ways to pay for your laser eye surgery.

Open a Flex Spending Account

If you don't already have a Flex Spending account to contribute to through your work, create one through your bank account. Basically you have a small portion of pre-tax dollars deducted from your paycheck and deposited directly into your Flex account. You'll be amazed at how quickly it adds up.

LASIK May Be Deductible

Although laser eye surgery is still considered a voluntary and elective surgical procedure, a portion of your procedure may be deductible from your income tax since you're paying out of pocket. Not everyone will qualify for this deduction, but it's very much worth finding out if your tax status will allow you to qualify.

Use Your Income Tax Refund to Pay for Laser Eye Surgery

You've waited this long, wait a little longer and use your tax refund to pay for your laser eye surgery. Another option is to deposit the funds into your Flex Spending account to help get you towards your goal if your refund alone isn't enough to pay for the entire procedure.

Does Your Doctor Finance?

Because of the demand for laser eye surgery many surgeons have developed alliances with finance companies and your doctor may very well offer this service too. When you have your initial consultation, find out if your doctor offers any type of LASIK financing to cover the cost of the laser eye surgery and what you need to do to qualify. For some people it will mean having a good credit score - for others it will mean simply writing a check for 20% of the cost of the surgery as a down payment and financing the balance.

Charge It!

If you don't see any other way to finance your LASIK, consider using your credit cards to pay. Now be aware, the interest rates will make your surgery cost even more and it's not the most financially wise decision. If you feel like you can combine your cards quickly or pay down the balances as fast as possible, this may be a route to take to get your laser surgery.

Those are just a few ideas for financing your laser eye surgery, hopefully one of them will work for you.