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For years and years I had terrible eyesight (I'm now 23 yrs old, I had the surgery when I was 22) and had worn glasses/contacs. My eyesight was horrible: it was basically -8.00 in both eyes (e.g. when I'd get up to use the washroom in the middle of the night I'd make my way out of my room via touch, not sight). Last April I decided to have laser eye surgery in hopes that I'd finally be free of corrective lenses. Because of my extreme nearsightedness I was given a 1 in 5 chance that my eyes would regress (i.e., my vision would deteriorate over time). Unfortunately, about 3 months after my surgery I woke up one more morning and noticed that my vision had become blurrier...my eyes had started regressing. Fast-forward to the present time (one year after my surgery), my eyesight has stabilized: it is not as good as it was right after surgery but I am able to do almost anything without corrective lenses; I do, however, wear glasses for driving at night and watching movies/TV. I am eligible to have a second surgery (at no cost since my plan included lifetime vision care coverage) whenever I decide to correct the regression: I am told that in 95% of cases the second surgery fixes the vision perfectly and there is no further regression. I have not yet had the second surgery because (and I say this as someone who has undergone various major surgeries) I am too scared to do so. The procedure hurts, period; it is a scary experience.
In a nutshell, there are two kinds of laser eye surgery. The first is LASIK: a small incision is made on the top of the eye, a flap is created and flipped to one side, the eyeball is shot with a laser, and the flap is repositioned. The second is PRK: for patients with very poor eyesight and/or smaller than average corneas (both described my condition), instead of creating a flap the top layer of the eye is scraped off completely (usually with a motorized tool), the eyeball is shot with a laser, contac lenses are placed on the eyes, and the patient returns three days later to have the contacs removed. Although the entire procedure takes less than five minutes, the scraping of the corneas was--for that split second in each eye--quite uncomfortable. Also, the tool used to keep the eyes in place involves placing a lot of pressure on the eyes. I am told that the LASIK procedure is actually a little more painful than PRK (no, I did not mistake the one for the other). However, the recovery period for LASIK is rather quick and painless (e.g. a few days to a week before the patient can resume normal activities). The recovery period for PRK is much longer and more painful: for almost three entire days after my surgery my eyes stung like crazy (e.g. like having shampoo in your eyes) and I surrounded myself in total darkness as I was quite sensitive to light. I did (i.e., could do) nothing but sleep and listen to audio-books/music.
Other things to consider? The vision, even once it has stabilized, is not perfect: every so often your eyesight (usually in one eye or the other) will become a little blurry and it gets quite annoying over time. Also, you are required to constantly use special eye drops: the drops cost $20 per bottle and still to this day I'm using two or three bottles per week. Also, your eyes get very dry after sleeping. Finally, cost: because I had the world's best laser (would you want anything else for your eyes?) my surgery cost approx. $4000 (no help from insurance company).
All things considered, I would recommend the surgery (especially if one is getting LASIK rather than PRK as the latter involves much more healing pain and recovery time). Don't rule out the possibility, though, that you may have to have a second surgery and/or still wear corrective lenses for certain activities. 90% of the time I can see quite well; the vision isn't perfect, but it sure beats wearing those annoying contac lenses!
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Working there one of my pet peeves is seeing it as one word. 
