LASIK Eye Surgery: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

In September 2026, LasikPlus led the LASIK Eye Surgery benchmark with a valid recommendation coverage of 21.6%. The gap to the next brand, The LASIK Vision Institute at 16.1%, stood at 5.5 points in September 2026.

No brand posted a movement beyond normal month-to-month variation in September 2026. The largest coverage increase among tracked brands was Mann Eye Institute, rising 0.6 points from 2.9% in August 2026 to 3.5% in September 2026. The largest coverage decline was The LASIK Vision Institute, falling 5.8 points from 21.9% in August 2026 to 16.1% in September 2026.

Over the full three-month series, two brands declined beyond normal variation: ClearSight LASIK fell from 1.6% in July 2026 to 0.0% in September 2026, declining in each of the two months since July 2026, and TLC Laser Eye Centers fell from 13.3% in July 2026 to 7.9% in September 2026, also declining in each of the two months since July 2026. The category leader, LasikPlus, held steady: its coverage of 21.6% in September 2026 was essentially unchanged from 21.8% in July 2026. Around these moves, The LASIK Vision Institute's presence rate fell 12.0 points from 56.9% in July 2026 to 44.9% in September 2026, even though its valid recommendation coverage classified as stable across the same period.

The benchmark began with 587 prompt-surface observations in September 2026 and produced 254 qualified observations after qualification.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts the canonical AI/search surface families with at least one qualified observation: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. All six families were represented in July and September 2026.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending LASIK Eye Surgery

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design. The following table shows how observations moved through the qualification funnel.

Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection. See the AI Market Discovery Methodology for the full qualification process.

Current Brand Standings

This table shows the current-month benchmark view for September 2026, sorted by valid recommendation coverage.

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate: Share of qualified observations where the brand appears in any form, whether recommended, mentioned, or compared.
• Valid recommendation coverage: Share of qualified observations where the brand receives a valid recommendation.
• Top-three rate: Share of qualified observations where the brand appears among the top three recommended options.
• Rank-one rate: Share of qualified observations where the brand is the single first recommendation.
• Net sentiment: Balance of positive over negative mentions, on a scale from -1 to +1.

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

The following table tracks valid recommendation coverage from the baseline month of July 2026 to the current month of September 2026.

Between August and September 2026, the largest single-month moves were concentrated among the leaders and mid-tier brands. The LASIK Vision Institute fell 5.8 points from 21.9% in August 2026 to 16.1% in September 2026. TLC Laser Eye Centers declined 3.6 points from 11.5% to 7.9%, and LasikPlus declined 3.8 points from 25.4% to 21.6% over the same period.

Largest Decline: ClearSight LASIK

ClearSight LASIK was the only tracked brand to reach zero valid recommendation coverage in September 2026, declining from 1.6% in July 2026. The brand declined in each of the two months since July 2026, with coverage of 1.1% in August 2026 and 0.0% in September 2026. Its top-three rate and rank-one rate both fell to 0.0% in September 2026 from 1.2% in July 2026 within the 7 mentions where the brand appeared.

Largest Decline: TLC Laser Eye Centers

TLC Laser Eye Centers declined beyond normal month-to-month variation in valid recommendation coverage, falling 5.4 points from 13.3% in July 2026 to 7.9% in September 2026. The brand declined in each of the two months since July 2026. Its presence rate also fell 14.7 points from 41.1% in July 2026 to 26.4% in September 2026.

Category Leader: LasikPlus

LasikPlus led the category in September 2026 with valid recommendation coverage of 21.6%, essentially unchanged from 21.8% in July 2026. The brand led on top-three rate at 17.3%, up from 15.3% in July 2026, and on rank-one rate at 9.4%, up from 5.7% in July 2026. Its presence rate stood at 72.4% in September 2026, compared with 79.8% in July 2026.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. The following table shows placement rates for the leading brands by valid recommendation coverage.

LasikPlus and The LASIK Vision Institute recorded identical top-three and rank-one rates in July 2026, but by September 2026 LasikPlus had moved ahead by 5.1 points on top-three rate and by 5.5 points on rank-one rate. By contrast, Mann Eye Institute reached 3.5% coverage in September 2026 but recorded no rank-one placements, while NVISION Eye Centers converted its 3.1% coverage into a 1.2% rank-one rate. Similar coverage levels can still hide very different first-position rates.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

In September 2026, all qualified observations fell into the Brand Recommendation class, the same as in July 2026.

The current public series measures the Brand Recommendation class of discovery and does not yet contain qualified observations in the Pricing & Value or Multi-Brand Comparison classes. Price, value, and head-to-head comparison questions have no public signal in this data.

Historical Measurement Record

This is an evergreen benchmark URL. New measurements are added to the same report.

Evidence and Source Layer

The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and, where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment. It is not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure:

• Market share or sales attribution
• Every possible AI response to every possible query
• Organic search ranking performance
• Social media mention volume
• Private or sponsored channels, including chatbots on brand-owned properties
• Causality from a metric movement alone; movements are recorded as observations, not explanations

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index is a neutral, industry-level benchmark tracking how AI/search surfaces present and recommend brands within a vertical. It measures presence, recommendation coverage, placement, and sentiment across six canonical AI surface families.

• AI Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions
• AI Market Discovery Research Standards
• Modeled AI Authority Value

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The public industry benchmark shows category-level standings. A company-level Authority Index can go deeper, examining your specific brand's presence, recommendation coverage, placement, and sentiment across AI surfaces with greater granularity.

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