DS is going to have the PRK surgery on Friday. He will take a week off from work to stay home and recover.
He is nearsighted, with astigmatism. Wearing contact lenses still bothers him in some way because the lenses with astigmatism don’t work exactly that well, and he has tried on different brands with the same result. He enjoys outdoor activities a lot, and ultimate frisbee is his passion. Vision correction surgery is always on his mind, and after consulting with the ophthalmologist, he is going for the PRK.
I get all I know about PRK from Dr Google. Do any of you have experience with this surgery? I would appreciate if you can share some insights.
I had PRK. Warning - brutal honesty forthcoming. The procedure was fine, the recovery was difficult, painful, and lengthy. Nothing at all like the in and out, one day recovery of Lasik. According to the several ophthalmologists that I saw, PRK was my only option if I wanted to rid myself of really thick far-sighted glasses so I went with it. In the end, I’m glad I did it, but it wasn’t easy. Full recovery took months. There are some blogs out there of people’s experiences with PRK and my experience was similar to most that I read (once I was able to read).
I had LASIK done 8 years ago. But on one eye, when the doctor went to lift the flap that had been cut he was unable to do so. I have corneal scars from two bouts of shingles in my eye and the scar tissue prevented the flap from lifting. So I had one eye fixed with LASIK but the only option for the other (scarred) eye was PRK. After several months of recovery (since the flap had been cut, he had to wait for it to heal) I had PRK on the second eye. I will say that it was much more painful than the eye that had the LASIK procedure and it took longer for my vision to be correct than I had expected.
I’m really glad that I had it done and it is definitely worth it in the end. It’s good that your son is planning to take a week off. I remember the pain as being pretty intense for the first day or so but then pretty manageable after that. So he probably doesn’t need a week’s time off due to the pain, but having both eyes done at once may make it difficult for him to see well enough for work since it does take some time for the eyesight to correct. Does he have rides lined up for this time so that he doesn’t have to be driving? I wish him the best of luck and I’m sure that he’ll be glad that he has it done once he has recovered.
Thank you for the responses, it is very helpful to know about your experiences with the surgery.
STEM2017 - Will look up some blogs, thanks.
C3Baker - DS carpools with a friend to go to work, so the driving part is covered. I am a little concerned about the time needed for him to see well, hope it won’t take too long. Thanks for the well wishes.
Good to know both of you are glad that you had the surgery done.
The P in PRK stands for Painful. I had this done about 19 years ago, when my health insurance at the time would cover PRK but not Lasik. I had each eye done separately, about a month or two apart - not sure if this is standard anymore. The reasoning was that it took a few weeks for each eye to heal to the point where I could see well enough to do daily activities. If they had done both simultaneously I would have been essentially blind for a couple of weeks. The doctor recommended under-correcting one eye so that I would be able to read without glasses, which I am still able to do in my 50’s.
I had both surgeries done on a Friday, blew Sat/Sun lying in bed, in pain. Went back to work Monday though, again because at least I had one eye that worked. I experienced night starburst effects which I think are fairly common with PRK. All this said, it was worth it for me, as my eyes are sensitive and I could never get used to contacts. I also had nearsightedness and astigmatism. I just had my annual eye exam, and 19 years later my vision is 20/25.
I had PRK three years ago and would do it again in a heartbeat. It was painful the first day or two. I didn’t drive for at least a week. It took a long time for my vision do get clear. I really didn’t drive at night for a couple of months do to the starburst effects but they eventually went away.
I’m not sure what you’re asking specifically, but here’s my word of warning:
Not everyone gets 20/20 on the first try. Some may need an enhancement or second surgery to get 20/20 vision. You might need to wait up to 6 months after the first surgery for the vision to stabilize enough to perform an enhancement.
Some side effects(light sensitivity, starbursts, ghosting) may never completely go away.
Even moderate dry eyes may require you to use lubricating eye drops daily for perhaps forever.
That said, it can still be worth doing if you son is unhappy with glasses and contacts.
I had PRK about 15 years ago… spent best part of a week in a darkened room. I had issues with dry eyes for about a year. Now, I’m still light sensitive, I don’t go anywhere without a good pair of (nonprescription) sunglasses.
I had PRK back in the Stone Ages (1995). Nearsighted with significant astigmatism. Lived in Redmond, WA but had to go to Vancouver, BC to get it done. I had significant pain in one eye afterwards due to something under the contact (Demerol was my friend!). It took quite a while for my eyes to heal properly, mainly due to allergy season kicking in at the time. Once everything cleared up it was great and is still great. No regrets at all.
I remember reading at the time that there was some long-term concern with the permanent loss of a thin “skin” cell layer on the eye following PRK (LASIK obviously doesn’t have that issue). I haven’t noticed anything and my ophthalmologist says everything is fine.
Note: when you get corrective surgery the old-age farsightedness kicks in at an earlier age than it would without the surgery.