Mrs FB had hers done back in around 2002 - best surgery she ever had done in her opinion.
she’d been using contacts for years but was never happy using them, and the occasional bout of conjunctivitis was always a problem as she was allergic to the preferred antibiotic.
I guess the only downside was the need to use reading glasses instead but that comes to all of us as we get older so it wasn’t a big deal.
I had it done some 15-16 years ago. Went from -4.25 to 40:20 (which means way beyond 20:20). It’s only just starting to slip again as I’m now 47 so can’t complain. I think it was around £3k back then.
Pretty sure I had LASIK where they cut the flap by hand and zap the eyes, then plop it back on. My op was extremely successful. Not only because I had silly good vision afterwards but also because the flap healed near perfectly - so well “I’d pass a military pilot eye check” as the surgeon said.
I had it done because I used to do whitewater kayaking where contact lenses are really not very good (they slip and slide around just as you need to see the best - in the middle of a waterfall or rapid). I’ve smashed myself around since then with no problems. Whitewater kayaking, MTB, triathlon (standard and extreme), climbing, trampolining, skydiving, …
If you are tired of lenses, or they are inhibiting you in doing what you want to do, then get the eyes zapped. But otherwise the benefit of lenses is that, well, if your eyes change (or are still changing) then changing a prescription is far easier.