You can have PRK surgery in one or both eyes. The doctor used special tools to keep your eye open. The cells on the surface of your eye were removed or pulled to one side. Then the doctor used a special laser to remove tissue and reshape the outside layer of your eyeball cornea.
Afterward, the doctor placed a contact lens on your eye as a bandage. Your eye will hurt, burn, or itch for 3 or 4 days after surgery. Your vision may be blurry, your eyes may water, your nose may run, or you may feel like there is something in your eye.
But it is important not to rub your eye. Rubbing your eye could damage it. Do not remove the contact lens in your eye. The doctor will remove this lens 2 to 4 days after surgery. At first, your vision may be better. But it may get slightly worse. Sometimes it takes a few weeks to be able to see clearly. But you will probably be able to return to work or your normal routine in about 5 days. It is common to be sensitive to light or to see starbursts or halos for 1 to 3 weeks.
Most people will see well in a few weeks. But for some people, it takes 3 to 6 months to get the full benefits of surgery and to see as clearly as possible.
Your doctor will recommend or prescribe pain medicines. The doctor will also give you eyedrops to prevent infection and to help with dryness. Your eye may feel dry for 1 to 3 months after surgery. He then told me to focus on a target light while he removed the surface layer of the cornea the corneal epithelium and then used a laser to reshape the cornea. FYI — At the eye center I went to, not sure if all places have this the surgical area is lined with windows and your driver can watch the whole process live also on a television in the waiting room.
So my husband was able to watch the entire thing. Kind of strange but very cool at the same time. Talk about something to keep you busy while you wait! The whole procedure probably took 12 — 15 minutes at the most.
I was given some blue blocker-type glasses, an additional prescription for Ambien, and instructions for the next few days. Everything was a little blurry but not too bad when I was leaving the office. The worst part of the whole day was going outside. I could barely keep my eyes open walking to the car and kept them shut the entire ride.
Once I arrived at home, I climbed in bed, took my sleeping pill as directed, and slept for about six hours straight. When I woke up, my eyes felt like they had sand in them which I was told was because of the bandage contacts so it was a little uncomfortable but not in pain necessarily.
I started my rounds of eye drops immediately. I made a little chart for all the meds because it was hard to keep track of when and how many to administer. There was a steroid drop, numbing drop, antibiotic drop, and artificial tears. The number of drops was tiered over the course of 7 days with the numbing one only to be used a few times when in pain. I went in for my follow-up appointment make a note — you need a driver for that as well the next afternoon.
The appointment was quick. I did not see my doctor but another one that was in the office that day. He said everything looked okay and to just rest and keep up with the drops as directed. Like I could barely keep my eyes open. Apparently having your eyes corrected, takes a lot out of you! I slept off and on for most of the first two days with mild discomfort here and there. Just when it would get bad it would be time for more drops which made them feel better.
My eyes teared constantly which gave me a runny nose and I was still really sensitive to light. So with the shades drawn, I listened to an audiobook in between napping. The doctor told me that day 3 was going to be the worst and he was right. Well, that all changed on day three! For about 12 hours, the pain was unbearable.
I used the numbing drops accordingly and the prescription pain meds but nothing helped. Fortunately, once those twelve hours were over, the pain subsided. The rest of the week my vision would come and go. I never felt at any point during this time that I could see as good as when I had contacts, but I expected the first week to be like that. During the first week after the procedure, I could not sit at my computer or watch television for very long at all.
I would get headaches and an overall tired feeling in my eyes. The sixth-morning post-op, I could actually see the alarm clock when I woke up without glasses! I was so excited and thought this was a great sign. That day I also went for another follow-up appointment where they removed the contact bandages. Again, a little discomfort but no pain. After a few eye tests, the doctor said everything looked great. I thought I was on the road to recovery.
Just in time for my three-month hiking trip in Spain. During the second week, I could get on the computer a little longer about an hour to an hour and a half , but my eyes were still extremely sensitive to light and I still felt worn out after screen time. My vision would come and go so I was not confident enough to drive yet. All I kept thinking was thankfully I work from home right now but what about the people that would have to have gone back to a job especially someone on a computer all day.
I began to worry and get frustrated when my vision did not start to stabilize in the third week. Because my vision was blurry, I still needed someone to drive me to my third appointment which I had on Day 27 where the doctor assured me everything was right on track. I vented to the doctor regarding my aggravation that I was never told the healing process could take this long. He told me everyone heals at a different pace. I drove only during the day, never at night.
I was still sensitive to light but not as severe and I was able to get on the computer for about 4 — 5 hours a day. All my symptoms remained the same as month one and two. My vision was way better than before the procedure but still blurry. I did not feel comfortable driving and my eyes themselves felt extremely sensitive to the touch. I wore sunglasses the minute I got outside since bright lights still bothered me and any wind blowing in my eyes felt terrible.
My three month follow up appointment was a lot of the same responses from the doctor. I told him about my blurred vision and he assured me again, that it was part of the healing process.
He wanted to see me in another month, but I reminded him I was leaving on a three month trip to Spain and Portugal. So I went ahead and hiked miles on the Camino de Santiago feeling like everything was a little off. My sensitivity to light got better every day but my eyes would still tear up on super sunny days.
And on the complete opposite side, my eyes would feel dry later in the day so I would use eye drops at least 4 or 5 times a day. At my six-month eye appointment, the doctor again, not the big honcho who performed my procedure because apparently he only does surgeries and never follow-up revealed my eyes should basically be done healing.
They had not changed since month one which left me with astigmatisms in both eyes that I did not have before the surgery and recommended a PRK touch up. He handed me a prescription and said to get glasses in the interim because he would not want to do the second procedure for another six months or so.
I asked all the important questions — while trying not to burst into tears with the idea of doing this all over again — like:. My head was spinning with the thought of going through all of this again. Not to mention, it is my eyes which I was nervous about in the first place.
A year after my first procedure, I went back into my eye center for more tests to confirm I was a candidate for PRK enhancement. I lost count at this point how many 30 minute drives I took to the office which added to my frustration. I had so much time and energy invested in something I thought was going to take a week! The doc looked over my results and said I was definitely viable for an enhancement. I came back within a few days to do it all over again. Imagine how I felt going through it??
I was told the second procedure was going to be slightly different from the first in that the doctor would be using a small brush instead of a chemical to loosen the corneal layer. He told me there had been studies that the change in the procedure was giving better results as far as recovery time.
But all in all, the recovery and the pain on the second PRK surgery the enhancement was far less unpleasant. I would not go as far to say it was easy, but it was definitely an improvement which leads me to believe the brush technique is a better option.
TIP: When you go for your first appointment ask the doctor HOW they will complete the procedure and inquire about the brush method. The first week was still tough with being tired and all the eye drops but by the second week I was already back on the computer. I went through the same light sensitivity issues but it lasted only about ten days. I followed all directions and went in for follow-up appointments as directed.
The doctor told me, I was not done healing and to give it time. Three to six months to be exact. Seven months after my surgery, I went for a regular eye exam at a Vision Center. I did not tell them about my history until after the consultation. Oh and I still have a slight astigmatism in my left eye. My prescription is low with a Also, my eyes are extremely sensitive and they were never before. And if an eyelash gets in there, watch out because it feels like someone is gouging them.
I reached out to the eye center and they would not give me any of my money back and told me if my eyes get any worse to come back in to see if I am a candidate for a second enhancement. So here I am two eye surgeries later with a new astigmatism, many missed days of work, chronic dry eye, and a prescription for glasses. Thanks for sticking around to read about my personal experience. I felt compelled to share so people out there contemplating corrective eye surgery are fully aware of all the risks and complications that can happen.
I did see the headings and photos and knew I was better off not reading in detail about your horrible experience. Thanks Laura! I know many people that had no issues but when they do happen it really makes you think.
Hi Rose, I did not have any other surgery before the first. The bad day for me was day 3 — the pain was unbearable for half the day then it subsided. It was a sharp stabbing and burning sensation in both eyes — very hard to explain. And yes, the sand feeling did last for months.
I did not have dry eyes before the surgery but do now. The first one was taken on both eyes at age 21, I had — 1. The recovery was painful but quick! So far so good. At almost 39 y. Need drops several times a day. Almost constantly reddish and sensitive eyes — still no reasonable answer for this one, and I was forbidden to use Stilla or similar eye drops.
Compared to mt left eye, my reading distance is somewhat blurry and NOT crisp! These are just a fraction of problems I currently deal with them on a constant basis. So, just to sum up — my far distance vision gor corrected, no complaints, but at what price?! You have small numbers. Because it will keep you from having reading glasses until older age! Thanks for sharing your experience and recommendations Diman! I really appreciate the info and totally agree.
This should be read by anybody who is considering this procedure. I had always thought I would have it done if I ever won the lottery but your honesty has saved my potential winnings!! Nice to know the truth, thanks. After surgery, if you still need correction in one or both eyes, you may elect to wear contact lenses.
Some patients who have monovision surgery will occasionally use a distance contact lens in the reading eye. They might do this in a situation where they want excellent distance vision in both eyes, such as playing tennis. If you tolerated the contacts before PRK, it is likely you will tolerate them afterward. In practice, though, rather than returning you to contact lens wear, your surgeon will generally recommend an enhancement to sharpen your vision.
The chance of unknown complications years down the road is very unlikely. PRK is a form of lamellar refractive surgery, a type of surgery that has been performed since People who have undergone earlier types of lamellar refractive surgery—much less accurate and more invasive than PRK— have not developed unexpected problems during the past fifty years.
PRK does not prevent cataracts, glaucoma, retinal detachment, macular degeneration, or any other eye disease. That is why it is important to still have regular eye checkups after PRK, even if your vision is perfect.
Some patients choose to have one eye treated at a time because of the relatively slow recovery from PRK. These patients rely on the un-operated on eye while the first eye recovers.
Then, they get the second eye done. Most patients, however, prefer to do both eyes at once, to avoid going through the procedure twice and the recovery twice. In the end, the choice is yours, and you should feel no pressure to do it one way or the other. Recent years have brought several advancements to PRK surgery. We now routinely perform wavefront-guided PRK. Better lasers and the use of an eyedrop called Mitomycin C at the end of surgery nowadays results in crystal-clear corneas in almost everyone.
PRK is a fairly stable technology now, with advances happening incrementally. In general, you are getting older much faster than PRK is getting better. This sensation lasted for the next few days. I've heard people describe it as akin to having sand in your eyes and I felt that to be pretty accurate. But there would also be occasional periods when the pain became much sharper and acute. At times it felt like someone was slowly poking me in the eye with a sewing needle. The pain was unpleasant but not terrible.
It wasn't as bad as having a migraine and it never got so bad that I took the Vicodin. But it certainly made it impossible to go to work or function in any meaningful way.
This was compounded by the fact that my eye was extremely sensitive to light. For about three solid days, I did nothing but listen to podcasts and audiobooks and pace around a dark apartment punching mirrors like Martin Sheen at the beginning of Apocalypse Now. Days Once the acute pain subsided, there were two major parts to the recovery.
First, was light sensitivity. Over the next couple weeks, I would have intense bouts of tearing whenever I went outside, even in the Robocop sunglasses they issued me after the procedure. It was also hard to look at bright computer screens for about the first week. In fact, for almost two weeks, I basically had to keep my sunglasses on all day, even when I was indoors at the office. The other issue at this point, besides being bullied at work for wearing sunglasses, was my vision.
After the first day, the vision in my affected eye actually got worse as it healed and then only slowly improved over time.
This persisted for about four weeks see below. In my case, since I got my eyes done one at a time, I had a huge mismatch between my old eye which still had a contact lens and my new eye which was blurry. I experimented with eye patches but ended up just closing my "new" eye all day when I worked, which isn't ideal.
Despite all of these inconveniences, I still felt really lucky that I could drive. I had been prepared to be grounded for the first few weeks, but this wasn't the case.
In particular, the doctor warned me about night driving, since many people experience optical effects that can make it hard to see in those conditions. But ironically, because of my light sensitivity, I found it much easier to drive at night than during the day. It's also worth mentioning that during much of this period you are still on a regimen of eye drops.
0コメント