Hi Edmund
In an ideal world, we would have a way to show you what kind of visual side effects, glare and halos you would get after LASIK. These side effects are possible no matter what kind of laser refractive surgery you have e.g. LASIK (including tissue saving or non tissue saving LASIK), epiLASIK/PRK and SMILE.
[As an aside, 'Tissue Saving' LASIK was a 'Brand Name' for an ablation algorithm used on the Bausch and Lomb Technolas platform. This is now superseded by the Bausch and Lomb Teneo platform, and they have changed the name of the tissue saving mode to 'Eco mode'. In a way, the term 'tissue saving' is a holdover from people who have used the older machine.]
The main advice we can provide is that there is a higher risk you could notice visual side effects, the higher the spectacle power that is being treated. We do not know what your spectacle degree is, but in my practice I tend to explain more about these issues to people who have above about -8D or 800 degrees of shortsightedness/myopia.
Nowadays, I avoid LASIK for patients above about -10.50 to -11.00D. On the other hand, patients with low degrees eg -3D, or even -6D rarely have any issues with night time vision. These are just general guidelines and may vary from doctor to doctor.
As another reference, SIA allows prospective pilots to have LASIK if their myopia is -5D or below, and astigmatism -2D or below. These patients generally have good night time vision after LASIK.
Remember that 'higher risk' does not automatically mean you would get such problems. The actual severity depends on many factors such as pupil size in the dark, 'pupil offset' (from the corneal vertex), corneal thickness (since a thin cornea can only support a small optical zone), etc
Having said that, you need to consider your desire for refractive surgery versus the possible side effects. While I don't think working on a computer would be a problem, driving at night can sometimes be an issue if the side effects are bad enough. Personally, since I don't have a way to definitively demonstrate the side effects, I think it is advisable that you consider a worst case scenario.
If you are very worried, it is probably best that you stick with glasses or contact lenses, if you are not suitable for ICL surgery. If you are suitable, then ICL surgery would give you the least possibility of night time visual issues.
You might want to ask exactly why you are not suitable for ICL surgery. The most common reason would be that the anterior chamber (AC) depth is too shallow, in which case, ICL surgery is definitely not advisable.
If in the end, you decide to stick with optical aids rather than surgery, I find that many patients do well with contact lenses for high degrees of spectacle power.
This is especially true of 'hard' rigid gas permeable contact lenses, which allow comfortable wearing for the whole day, after an initial period of discomfort and getting used to it.
