Lasik and PRK Surgery: Are Your Eyes Ready for This?

So you are like many other people with bad vision and desperately want to stop relying on glasses and contacts. LASIK surgery is most certainly on your minds, huh? Well, as a person who had the surgery approximately 9 years ago, I highly recommend it! I spent nearly $1,800 when all was said and done. That may sound like a lot, but when you think about how much money you spend on new glasses and new contacts every year, then it doesn't seem that bad at all. Heck, you people with contacts would actually SAVE money in the long run!

Other than worrying about going blind, a lot of you wonder how effective LASIK can be. For me, and many others, I instantly had 20/20 vision. Did it last forever? I'd like to say "Yes," but unfortunately, it did not. After about 7 years of sharp 20/20 vision, my vision started to fade. I had the surgery done when I was 25 years old. By age 33, my left eye dropped to 20/25, which is still decent, but my right eye dropped all the way down to 20/80. The good news? Yes, of course there is good news. The location (LASIK Vision Institute in Altamonte Springs, FL), along with most others that offer LASIK surgery, offers "lifetime warranties" on your eyes, so if your eyes fade, you simply return to the office and have them redone free of charge.

Sounds great so far, right? Enhancements should be a breeze, correct? Um, not so much! Once you have LASIK surgery, you have a corneal flap . . . you can only have so many flaps in one eye, so when going for an enhancement, you most likely will undergo PRK surgery, which stands for "Photorefractive Keratectomy." With PRK, in technical terms, the corneal epithelium is removed-the cells then begin to regenerate after the surgery. This "regenerate" process can be very timely and frustrating to say the least.

Unlike normal LASIK surgery, you most likely will NOT have 20/20 immediately after surgery. In fact, it may be MONTHS before you reach that point! As for me, I had PRK conducted on my right eye only. Since my left eye was better than 20/30, the doctors would not operate on it. So, the day of my surgery, my right eye was completely blurry and UNCOMFORTABLE! Uncomfortable because you are forced to wear a type of contact that serves as a band-aid. You have to keep this in your eye for approximately five days before it can ever be removed. Even with endless eye drops, you will likely experience severe dryness and discomfort. It is not fun!

When it came time to have my contact removed, I thought for sure I would see 20/20 in my right eye. Nope, not so much! It was still blurry! How blurry, you ask? My right eye was so hazy and distorted, that I could not even read the words on a normal-sized computer monitor with my face three inches from the screen! All I can say is THANK GOD I did not have PRK surgery on both eyes! If I did, I literally would have been unable to drive for about 6 weeks . . . and I would not have been able to work at all, either! By week 7, my right eye was finally starting to come around, although the vision fluctuated. One minute it would feel like 20/40 . . . then the next minute it would feel like 20/80 again. Needless to say, I was relying a lot on my left eye for quite some time!

Slowly, but surely, my right eye's vision became improved and more stable. By the end of month #6, my right eye was at 20/25. It was not the 20/20 I was looking for, but much better than 20/80! To this day, almost one year later, the eye is still at 20/25, as is my left eye. Despite all the discomfort and frustration, I am glad I went through with PRK.

I close this blog by stating this-I highly recommend PRK for people who need enhancements; HOWEVER, I advise that you only get ONE eye done! Take care of the other one later! Unless you have the ability to stay home all day and do nothing but sleep, then having both eyes done at the same time could quite possibly prevent you from conducting your everyday functions. My story of not being able to see well for several months is no fluke . . . many others share the same experience with PRK! So be careful and cautious!