At 4 years old I was prescribed my first set of glasses. Here I am 36 years later, and I may finally be out of them. I turned to PRK (Photorefractive Keratectomy) in hopes of finding freedom!
In 200,1 I underwent LASIK (Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis) surgery to correct a pretty severe case of astigmatism and near sightlessness. At the time, it wasn’t enough to free me of the frames and lenses I had learned to live with. The problem was I averaged about 20/1300 vision and the doctor was very clear that it was unlikely that he could correct my vision to 20/20. He told me he could get me close, but I would still need glasses. He was correct. I normalized at around 20/60 after about 18 months and have stayed stable for the past 15+ years.
Enough was enough though. I am active on the Jiu Jitsu mats, I love to hit the trails in my Jeep, and I spend a fair amount of time on my motorcycle. These are all activities that kinda suck if you wear glasses, or if you don’t have clear vision without corrective lenses. For those wondering why contacts weren’t an option, well, it’s because of astigmatism. Astigmatism and contacts don’t play nicely. I tried time and time again and just couldn’t get the vision crisp like I hoped.
I went in to see my eye doc a couple months ago and he recommended that I go get a consultation for LASIK. Even though I’d had the procedure once, technology had advanced he noted, and I may be eligible to do it again. It wasn’t the case, however. Because of the way the procedure was done back in the day, there was too much risk in creating an incision in the top layers of my cornea again. They instead recommended PRK which has similar results, just approached a little differently, so I wouldn’t have to worry about creating the flap necessary with LASIK.
To keep an already long post shorter, I’ll skip the back and forth with making the decision. I decided to do it, and last week I underwent PRK laser surgery on both eyes. The purpose of this post is to provide a general understanding of the procedure and to offer a recap of my experiences through the first week of recovery. If you’ve ever thought of getting corrective eye surgery and PRK is an option, I hope this post helps you better understand what the recovery might look like. [Read more…] about No More Four Eyes. PRK to the Rescue!