Vince's New Eyes

Yesterday afternoon Vince had an appointment to get Lasik surgery on his eyes. He has talked about getting Lasik for as long as I can remember and he finally decided to do it! After his final exam yesterday the doctor recommended doing a procedure called PRK instead of the Lasik.
PRK (photorefractive keratectomy) once was the most common refractive surgery procedure before LASIK was developed as a more popular alternative.

Both PRK and LASIK are grouped under the umbrella "laser eye surgery," but each is a little different when it comes to advantages and disadvantages.

LASIK patients have less discomfort and obtain good vision more quickly — whereas, improvement with
PRK is gradual and takes days, weeks or even months. But many surgeons prefer PRK in circumstances such as when patients have thin corneas.

PRK is performed with an excimer laser, which uses a cool ultraviolet light beam to precisely remove ("ablate") very tiny bits of tissue from the surface of the cornea in order to reshape it. When you reshape the cornea in the right way, it more precisely focuses light into the eye and onto the retina, providing clearer vision than before.

The actual surgery usually takes only a few minutes, and you're awake the whole time.
Most people don't feel pain during PRK. Your eyes are anesthetized with special drops prior to the procedure. The doctor will have you lie down, and then will make sure your eye is positioned directly under the laser. (One eye is operated on at a time.) A kind of retainer is placed under your eyelids to keep them open — normally, this is not uncomfortable.


The doctor uses a computer to adjust the laser for your particular prescription. You will be asked to look at a target light for a short time while he or she watches your eye through a microscope to make sure it remains in the correct position while the laser sends pulses of light to your cornea that painlessly remove the tissue. It's important to keep your gaze fixated on that target light in order to get the best results.


The laser machine will make a steady clicking sound as the laser reshapes your cornea, and you may notice a slight odor during the tissue removal.


The higher your prescription, the more time the surgery will take. But even for high prescriptions, the laser treatment generally takes less than a minute.

The major downside to PRK is the recovery. Poor Vince. His eye sight is pretty blurry right now. His eye's hurt so bad last night and his eyes won't stop watering. Even the slightest light hurt his eyes for the first few hours after the surgery. He just hung out in our bed and listened to the T.V. (I had to put a towel over the screen b/c it was to bright). Once we got his pain meds in him he seemed to be able to tolerate more light. But he has been wearing these goofy sunglasses around the house to help with the brightness. This morning was pretty painful for him too. We went back to the doctor for his follow-up appointment and they said his eyes looked good and the pain was normal. They said he should feel much better on Monday and should be able to drive then too. I am sure when he is all healed up and doesn't have to wear his contacts or glasses this recovery pain/time will all be worth it!