PRK Surgery updates--50Joe, Dougk, Todd Clark?

Looking into PRK eye surgery. The last threads on this were in '03 and '05.

What is your long term evaluation?

Anyone recently had the procedure done? How long were you out of action? I cannot be MIA for more than 4 days. Realistic?

 

PRK will have you down for a couple of days. The reason being that PRK removes about the first 50 microns of corneal tissue, the epithelium, that will need to grow back. If you opt for LASIK, they separate the cornea, apply the refractive laser, then fold the flap back in place. Very little discomfort and back to normal pretty quick.Try to have the procedure on a Thursday. Have your one day post op visit on Friday then relax for the rest of the weekend. You'll be good to go on Monday. There is a lot of long term data available now with great results. The advances in laser technology with wavefront guided treatments and femto second laser flap creation makes the procedure safer and extremely accurate. Have you found a doc you like yet?

 

I had LASIK done just Before Xmas, the day of was a write off, I was ok to drive the following morning, and pretty much back to normal within 3 days with the exception of "tired" eyes by the end of the day and crappy night vision. My vision is now 20/15 my night vision is as good as it ever was, no complaints, my only regret is that I didn't do it years ago.

 

I did a PRK procedure, LASEK, about a year ago. There is definitely a LOT more down time and recovery, especially whenever I ask friends about their LASIK and how long it took them. If I were to do it all over again, I'd go with a LASIK procedure.

My eyes were always dry and red and I had to take all types of eye drops, including some very expensive ones. After a month or so that got better. To be honest though I could have taken it easier on my eyes during the recovery period.

I can't say how it'll be a few years from now, but especially for the first 6 months, my eyes were still dry all the time, especially in the morning, and it made it hard to see. Sometimes it felt like my eyes just couldn't tear. Now that problem is mostly gone.

My vision never corrected anywhere near 20/20 but it's a lot better than before (on the plus side the LASEK procedure bumped me up to a free touch ups for life deal). I feel like my night vision is worse but it's also possible that it's just because I'm not seeing 20/20. I also find that my eyes are much more sensitive now to an accidental bump or bug or whatever it may be. They are also more sensitive to the sun. My Oakley's are as critical to me now as my prescription glasses were to me then (at least outside).

It feels like an even trade off, even without seeing 20/20, but If you end up with those results or better, you definitely will not look back.

 

My girl used to be a laser tech for LASIK. You guys who went through that are fucking nuts

 

My long time optometrist recommended the doc in our office. He seems like a knowledgeable fellow, but he is young. He's done less than 100 himself.

:up:

Well, that makes me want to stay with contacts.:down:
I can only do PRK because my cornea is not thick enough. It is about 50 microns and I understand that a minimum post op thickness is 30 microns. So, I cannot get there going LASIK. This doc says that he thinks PRK is more accurate and safer anyway. He agrees that down time is significantly longer.

My cost is $3400. Maybe I'm wishing for and expecting the moon: 20/20, no worse night vision, no dryness, no sensitivity, be back to working and driving within 4 days (surgery on a Friday).

 

Had LASIK done 6 years ago. Post op, my vision was 20-25. Doc said he could get me to 20-20, but, suggested against it. Said the little bit of nearsightedness will postpone the need for reading glasses down the road. So far, so good...still at 20-25. I can see just fine and the only time I really notice any blurriness is when I'm looking at an eye chart.
First couple of days was a pain in the ass. Had some starbrite effects with lights at night for a few days, but, that went away.

 

I don't remember when I had it anymore, 10-11 years ago. I haven't had my vision checked since I retired, but I do not notice a significant change in vision. Can still see clear and with great distance. I have noticed my eyes are sometimes out of focus on the close stuff, but I'm 44 now. Could be perfectly normal for my age. The degree of sun sensitivy has decreased significantly, but I still prefer sun glasses even on cloudy days. The biggest issue is the halo effect on headlights and signs. It's a bit better, but still there.

 

LASIK 7 years ago. Down that afternoon. Some daytime fuzziness the next day. Daytime vision was great from day 3 on. Rode Freddie Spencer school a week after surgery. Night time I had some halos around streetlights for 4 months or so. Since then, all good. Never had dryness.

 

Postoperative you need 250 microns of residual stromal bed tissue. The stroma is a layer of the cornea and any thinner than 250 you will face the risk of developing ectasia. A condition of an unstable thinning cornea that will ultimately require a corneal transplant. Before the femto second laser method of creating the LASIK flap, yes PRK was definitely safer than LASIK. Now, not so much. My reccomendation is the Doc that does your surgery should be a corneal specialist. Reason being, in the event something isn't perfect, they will be trained to manage it.

The adverse night vision is mostly gone with the application of the larger treatment zones used on the latest lasers. Dryness may not be an issue for you having PRK. Dry eye is sometimes caused by severing nerves in the cornea responsible for lubricating the eye when creating the LASIK flap.

 

I had my lasik surgery back in either 2001 or 2002. So, over 10 years now for me. Mine's been great. No touch up's needed, etc. I was back to normal activities less than 2 days after the procedure. My vision became 20/30 right after the surgery and then improved to 20/15 over the next few months. I guess that is typical. 11 or 12 years later my far sighted vision is now about 20/25. My reading vision is just starting to slip but that's age related.

Summary: I'm extremely happy with the procedure and have had excellent results.

 

I had PRK done in early 2008. I couldn't read anything for about 4-5 days and didn't feel safe driving for about a week. Could read a computer screen fine after about 2.5 weeks. Took a lot of vitamin C as per doctor's recommendations and did all the eye drops as recommended. My vision went from around 20/400 to 20/15. However, I did end up with very, very slight bit of corneal haze. It wouldn't bother me at all except that one of my other hobbies is competitive pistol shooting and the location of the haze is in a spot that causes my view of a front sight to be just slightly fuzzy. As for night vision, I had minor starburst/halo before the operation (don't know know why) and that seems slightly worse, but it doesn't bother me at all. My eyes are a little more light sensitive and tend to dry out a little easier, but I notice that these side effects have decreased over the years (were more noticeable the first couple years). Overall, I'm still pretty happy. If I could do it all over again, I might have gone for LASIK instead. My dad did it and his recovery was a lot quicker than mine and he didn't have to worry about corneal haze. However, he got the option so that one eye was set up for seeing far away and one eye was set up for seeing close supposedly as away to avoid reading glasses (monovision). He still ended up having to use reading glasses so it was probably bad way to go.

 

Thanks for that information. You are a doctor, right?
I'm having reservations about doing this now. As much as I hate wearing contacts, I don't want to go backwards as some have. I remember when Nick Ienatsch did his back in the 90's. It was a new procedure then. I guess that I am expecting too much.

Thank you very much for your input MPOLANS, 50JOE, THE GROUCH, DOUGK, WORTHLESS, AND JD96.:up:

 

I had PRK about a year ago. Like you I wasn't a candidate for lasik, so I did PRK. They did one eye then about 2 months later I did the second eye.

the first eye, the first two days after surgery it was fine and I really just did my normal routine. then the third day it hit me pretty hard. maybe it was just that I did my normal stuff the first couple of days but it didn't bother me at all, etc. The next couple of days were not fun and a lot of pain. it was like having sand under your contact for about 2-3 days.

the second eye, I don't know if I just paid more attention to what I was doing but it went much better and not nearly the amount of pain and discomfort.

overall I'm super happy with my vision and would do it again if I needed it. I paid so I can get updates if I want in the future, but for now, like other said, I should have done it a long time ago. riding street, track, dirt, etc is just a lot more fun now, no worries, and even shooting is much more fun. plus playing in the water is easier (no worries about loosing a contact or whatever). two thumbs up. I did mine at Lasik Plus in ATL, Dr. Smith if it matters. I'm sure I can find some sort of referral coupons (I know they send them to me every so often).

hope it helps...

 

Yeah even with all the bullshit my eyes tear fine now and underwater stuff is so much better and not having to worry about contacts/glasses, etc. One of the big reasons I did mine was also for skydiving which is a million times better now and was even a month after the surgery. But if you notice, pretty much all the LASIK people who responded were up and running in no time and the PRK people took much longer to recover. 4 days is unrealistic unless you're indoors and can have people drive for you and you don't have to stare at a computer screen.

BTW there are other PRK procedures such as LASEK that are supposedly even safer. They cut mine with a blunt object or some shit.

 

Two years LASIK post-op here and loving it. Stayed home the next day and was pretty much back to normal after that.

 

LASIK done back around 2000 i think? I was 39, im now 51, still seeing 20/20. reading vision was still sharp as a tack until about 6 years ago, now my damn arms arent long enough. LoL They told me then that i'd have that problem, no way around it, thats just old age, and what $2 reading glasses are for.

Wish i had done it when i was 20 (if it'd been around back then, i would have). Like i said tho, at 51, its all still good, and i think when i had it done it was about $3K.

 

51?? For real??

 

yup

 

Hell, I thought you were at least 60!