I had LASIK in 2013. My vision was so bad that I was basically blind without glasses. Without glasses I could not even read or safely walk across the room. The LASIK helped tremendously but my vision is only 20/30. The doctor told me that he could do a PRK procedure, free of charge since he did my LASIK, as corrective method because LASIK was no longer an option for me.
Has anyone here had PRK after having LASIK? What is the PRK recovery like?
Last edited by TheNewbie; 06-27-2018 at 06:01 PM.
20/30 from near-blindness isn’t close enough?Originally Posted by TheNewbie
If we have to march off into the next world, let us walk there on the bodies of our enemies.
My PRK recovery was horrific.
I wasnt able to see without blurriness for a month. The pain was present for a week and a half and it was excruciating, akin to being pepper sprayed. Time heals all wounds so IF your doctor thinks its a good idea, id do it and be done with it if you feel like you want 20/20 or 20/15.
That's a good point. If I knew it was going to be 20/30 forever, I wouldn't care. If it's going to get worse than 20/30 and PRK can help it, then I just want to get it over with.
Your point is well taken though.
I had LASIK in 2015. They didn't get it right (very reputable dr, nobody's perfect) and decided that my corneas aren't thick enough for a second LASIK (I guess I was marginal to begin with, as in so many things), so the correction was PRK.
My recovery was not bad. I had very little pain, easily managed with Advil or whatever. My vision was... I called it foggy, sort of like looking through a thin film of Vaseline. This cleared gradually over about two weeks. It took 6 or 8 weeks for my vision to stabilize, and I accumulated quite a collection of reading glasses trying to keep up. They did one eye at a time.
I actually preferred the PRK procedure. I couldn't sit still with the thingy stuck to my eyeball for LASIK, and ended up needing 85mg of Valium (was still stoned the next day). PRK was much easier for me, though the recovery time was much longer.
Last edited by Cacafuego; 06-27-2018 at 10:10 PM. Reason: spelling
Roommate at base had it. Severe light sensitivity and pain for two weeks. After that he could function normally, but had a pack of medicated eye drops he put in constantly throughout the day.
I'm seriously considering getting PRK done. I figure there's a reason why it's an approved eye surgery for military opterations, and LASIK isn't.
Wife and I had PRK. DO ONLY 1 EYE AT A TIME !!!!
She had both eyes done, I was driving her for a month. I had 1 eye done and so could drive OK. We both had good vision improvements and it was thus a success.
Reading the responses makes me both really want to do it but also to not want to do it . Haha
Some say do one eye at a time. Is the recovery bad enough that you can't do basic functions?
I work patrol , I figured I would be down for a week.
I had LASIK in 2000. My result was excellent, but I had some relapse over the next decade, most notably in my left eye. I have monovision, and read with my right eye. Anyway, I noticed my distance vision slipping and went for a consult. The surgeon told me that the flaps cut in the first procedure were too thick for reoperation, so PRK was the only choice. He only does PRK one eye at a time; not an issue for me as I was only doing one eye. In general, LASIK postop is easy; flap is raised, deeper layers of the cornea are lasered, flap is replaced. For me, there was no discomfort and immediate excellent results. PRK postop is generally more difficult as the outer layer of the cornea is removed (only in the operative area) then the deeper layers of the cornea are reshaped. There is no corneal flap to act as a bandage, so the area can be painful for about 3 days and it can take a few weeks for visual acuity to reach maximum improvement. The result is equivalently stable to LASIK. For me, having PRK after LASIK was a breeze. Because sensory nerves in the cornea were cut during my LASIK, I had very little discomfort after the PRK. I would favor PRK as a revision procedure because lifting the original flap can allow cells to grow under the edges of the flap during healing; this is called epithelial ingrowth, and can degrade vision.
I don't know about PRK after LASIK but I had PRK in March and would do it again in a heartbeat. Wife had it done the year before, FFL 8 years ago, co-worker 4 years ago. Recoveries were all 4-6 days before useful for work and such but day time driving on day 6 wasn't an issue for any of us. Night driving was around 3 weeks for me. I'm not 100% settled for night time driving either as I still have *some* starbursts but not nearly as many as I had with contacts or glasses. It did take about 8 weeks before a front sight was clear enough to feel that I could be better than pre-surgery but now I'm well beyond that feeling now.
To be able to see things like pollen blowing off of trees and notice grasses moving at a distance in a field has been almost surreal. I am 20/15 or better right now.
Think for yourself. Question authority.
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