PRK surgery

[nusspli]

I am considering eye correction surgery and have asked in a previous post about divers' experiences with LASIK. I am also a candidate for PRK, and am wondering if anyone has had this procedure done instead of LASIK, and what the outcome was.

THANKS!

-Jessica

 

[chickdiver]

Jessica-

I had LASIK. The actual surgical partof the procedure is the same. The difference4 is how they expose the cornea for reshaping. With PRK they brush off the epithelial layer, and with LASIK they cut a flap in it. Healing time for PRK is much longer, and you must wear a bandage contact lens for a period of time. Also, with PRK they will generall operate on only one eye at a time. With LASIK the healing is pretty quick (you are back to normal within about a week), and they typically do both surgeries in one day. The diffrence in doing the surgeries is caused by the fact that without the epithelial layer, your vision will be very blurry, with LASIK it isnt.

 

[nusspli]

Thanks for the reply. I was also told by my opthalmologist that I could be out of work for up to a week post PRK surgery. And that I would only miss one day of work following LASIK.

How long ago did you have LASIK done? And did you have any problems, due to pressure, diving at depth following surgery?

 

[chickdiver]

I had Lasik last April. I was back at work the next day, and had only very minimal discomfort. I was back diving (in fact, teaching a trimix class) 10 days post surgery. No problems whatsoever. It was the best 1700$ I ever spent!

 

[Walter]

I had PRK several years ago. The biggest difference to me is with PRK, they never cut the cornea and when it heals, the cornea is as strong as before the surgery. With lasik, you'll always have the scar on the cornea which is a weak spot.

I'm told there is no pain with lasik. With PRK, there was minor pain, similar to having something in your eye. It lasted about 3 days for me with the blurring disappearing after a day. I never wore a "bandage contact lens" nor have I ever heard of one.

Personally, I'd go with PRK, the minor difference in healing time and the small amount of pain are worth not having that scar on my corneas.

Prior to the surgery, I was legally blind, I no longer need glasses.

 

[chickdiver]

My Mom had PRK,and she had the Bandage contact lenses. The corneal incision, while perhaps a "weak spot" heals quite well. To the extent that within jut a few days, in order to lift the flap again a special tool must be used, and after about a month an incision would have to be recut.

 

[nusspli]

$1700 US? Is that per eye?

The rate here is about $1600/eye.

 

[chickdiver]

Nope, that was for both. I got really lucky- I "interviewed" several docs, and ended up having the surgery performed by a corneal specialist. She was (by far) the most qualified, had had Lasik herself, and so was able to tell me EXACTLY what would happen, and she was the least expensive. The downside was that she only does Lasik surgeries once a month- the rest of the time she's doing corneal replacements and the like!

 

[metaldector]

I'll be having an evaluation for interlasik this Thursday. I haven't commited to the proceedure yet. Didn't know about the scar issue, but I like the fact that no knife blade touches the eye and that recovery time is very short. One other post here mentioned that they had a halo effect with their night vision after the lasik. I will diffenently ask about that! Has anyone had their eyes corrected for two (2) different focal lengths, one for close-up, the other for distance? Thanks.

 

[plsdiver4377]

I had the LASIK procedure done almost 4 years ago by Jonathon Woolfson, MD. It was performed at the TLC CLinic in Greenville, SC, all of the people involved were extremely informative. As far as pain and discomfort I can honestly say there was virtually none, just a case of dry eyes for a few days.

I went water skiing on the 8th day post-LASIK with no problems what-so-ever, even down to hitting the water at roughly 40mph with my eyes open. I don't believe the chances of dislodging the flap are much to worry about from my own experience as well as looking at the stats regarding this problem. My eye doctor has told me that she could hardly see the scar at all after 6months.

I do have halos especially when I'm extremely tired. At TLC they had to check my pupil dilation 3 times to verify that I was a candidate for the procedure in the US since my pupil size was on the ragged edge of the maximum size. I was warned that halos would possibly be a side effect since I did have such large pupils. Most people don't seem to suffer from them (at least the 4 other people I know who have had the procedure don't).

BTW Chickdiver you got a great price considering mine cost me $4000 dollars 4 years ago. But, it was worth it (every penny).

Also, I went from 20/200 to 20/20 1 hour post op and 20/10 1 month later.