This is the one my husband had. The surgery was very fast and his recovery time was fast, too. Within 24 hours his vision could be measured as 20/20. But complete healing takes up to 6 months. There were a few times when he was convinced he'd made a mistake, because he was not fully recovered before the 6 months were up. But he did recover fully and has been so thrilled at his vastly improved sight.I haven't because it scares me, but my husband had it done. He had to have a variety called PRK because he had thin corneas, so he had a longer recovery time (about 3 days) and it was not fun but he says it was totally worth it. His vision is excellent and has been since he had the surgery done 7 years ago.
I'm not sure of the side effects, but I believe worse vision, particularly "halos" around bright lights, are a possibility.