Mary,

LASIK is effective for nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism. It can also treat presbyopia (old eyes) with monovision.

Another treatment modality is intraocular lens implants, which can also treat presbyopia, such at the ReSTOR or Technis multifocal lens implants. The FDA studies--which tend to be quite conservative--found that well over 80% of patients receiving these implants did not use glass at all, regardless of age. In my practice the vast majority of people receiving these implants do not need to use glasses at all from then on.

Glasses for correcting vision are going the way of the slide rule and manual typewriter--they're becoming obsolete. Quite frankly, this isn't something futuristic--we have the technology available right now to eliminate the need for glasses for most people.