I had Lasik a few years ago and so far no problems. There's a whole bunch of options and I'm sure there are more options now. I went for the Wavefront custom Lasik which was the state of the art back then. They map our your eye and the system decides the best procedure for shaping your cornea.

Now they have the Intralase where it doesn't require cutting into your cornea and lifting a flap. However, I heard the recovery time is longer than regular Lasik and given that it's newer, I wouldn't go for it. The last thing you want is experimental or frontier surgery on your eyes.

They say you walk out the doctor's office with 20/20 vision, but it's not true. It does take some time for you to get the optimium vision back. Yes, you can see immediately after surgery but your eyes are sensitive and you have to take care of them for a few weeks. The doctor will explain everything but for me it was sensitive and I had to constantly put in eyedrops for several weeks. I also had sunlight sensitivity so I had to wear sunglasses when I was outdoors. All in all, it was totally worth it. I no longer have to wear bulky glasses.

Can't help you on the surgeon since I don't know any surgeons in California. However, when selecting a surgeon, make sure he/she has done lots of procedures. You also want to see if the doctor is someone who is meticulous in nature. A lot of the Lasik surgery is automated by machines but you want someone who presses all the right buttons in the right order.