You may need to rely on glasses to enhance your vision until your eyes are fully healed. Ended up asking some friends to meet me halfway and drive me back in my car. I vented to the doctor regarding my aggravation that I was never told the healing process could take this long. I hear some people saying they pretty much heal over the first month; others tell me that the transition between the 3rd and 4th month is the final round of big changes. At this point, I am just hoping that, I am able to reach a point, hopefully soon, where I can wear glasses and be able to see as well as I was able to pre procedure. The prescription of the eye stabilizes and with this comes improvements in what you can see. I received a (hopefully) temporary prescription for farsightedness back on November 5th from the eye surgeons office. Thankfully a contact lens is usually placed to help with the pain. I should have walked out and done more research. During PRK surgery, corneal surface is modified and nerve endings are damaged, which perturbs the lacrimal system. Now they want me to have a second surgery and I have not accepted it. I do NOT want to go through the PRK surgery EVER again. Type 1 occurs one to three months after surgery and subsides after about one year. It is only fair in the first few days, and you should refrain from driving a car. I wanted to try getting contacts and he ordered some trial contact lenses for me but get this when I tried them on, it was as if I was nearsighted again and everything was blurry at distances. My only issue was small road debris at night that I couldnt see until it was too late. The doctor told me that day 3 was going to be the worst and he was right. Blood vessels in the retina can leak, causing fluid to build up and blurring your vision. Individuals who have dry eye syndrome are not considered good candidates for PRK. Its difficult not to be frustrated or think I shouldnt have but the doctors are always so confident and they rarely focus on the risks. Im so sorry to hear about your results. Ill share my personal NEGATIVE experience with PRK procedure. Have you gone back and talked to yours? Ophthalmology 53 years experience. I ran into some extra money and decided to take the leap again. 6 months later I still have to put the ointment in my eyes before going to sleep because if I Dont Ill wake up in so much pain I want to scream or when I try to open my eyes and they dont and I have to manually open them and it feels like Im ripping layers off which make me want to cry but I cant because they are so dry. The amount of time required to heal can be frustrating. Then the day of the surgery he told me I was getting PRK. Retreatment is performed with an excimer laser. And all this just to make my vision eyesight just a little bit better. I hope this happens for you as well. You are blessed with glasses. So, just to sum up my far distance vision gor corrected, no complaints, but at what price?! Since different people have had different recovery timelines, it is important to remember that the timing is extremely variable. Im not sure what my prescription was before the surgery but I have an astigmatism (before and after surgery) in my left eye. Anywhere I inhabit is littered with the tiny plastic bottles of preservative free eye drops. When I brought this up with the doctor, all he had to say was wow Ive never heard of that before, have a nice day. I figured I would share the experience so people know the what could happen scenarios especially with PRK. I did vision therapy for many months. Initial vision was very blurry, but I was told that the vision would improve with time. You have small numbers. LOL). You should see some improvement in the next 2-3 months. My left eye is still blurry and I have been out of work since!!! The correction lasted about 15 years which I cant complain aboutBUT since the second surgery I have been completely night blind, cannot go without sunglasses in even partial light, suffer from extreme eye strain, dry and itchy eyes, and a constant squirt in even low light. I had my PRK in Nov of 2020. Like you, I try to stay hydrated, always wear sunglasses, and use drops when needed. This can cause blurry vision as well as glare from lights. But of course, not every patient will fit neatly into this recovery. 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. I am confident in driving with my blurry eyesight, and even back then i was as well. Fixed monthly payments are required until paid in full and will be calculated as follows: on 60-month promotion 2.5339% of initial promo purchase amount. Oh and dont get me started if a speck of dirt hits my eye from the wind. Is it any better with glass? There is a small amount of residual fluid remaining from the detachment that isnt absorbed automatically. I am so sorry youre going through this and really hope it gets better. I would like to add my personal experience, although the story is not over yet. Patients often choose these procedures to enhance their quality of life; however, sometimes the treatments may cause blurry vision commonly referred to as ghosting. All I can say is that my dry eye did get better as time went on. The healing process with PRK. I personally chose PRK myself and had a great surgeon that was very easy on the eye throughout the procedure and their method utilized a disc instead of a well to apply the alcohol directly to the treatment area reducing the after surgery pain. Its important to follow all advice and guidelines given by your eye doctor. Ive seeing doubles, my eyes are always blurry and I cant even see close. And it works better for low to moderate farsightedness than high. ($5 Off Here: https://bit.ly/3JMlzim). I would not recommend anyone going to any of the discount practices or any practice not using the most up to date equipment as you only get one set of eyes. In rare cases, more extreme side effects can occur. I hope you find peace. can you plz tell me about the third day in a lil more detail. Everyday when I wake up I am reminded of my mistake and then begins the battle of what I could possibly do to improve my condition. Opthalmologist mentioned that epithelium in one eye is healed and the other eye is healing. Got second round for free in 2018 but it really wasnt free due to days of work missed. They should be able to prescribe you something that should help in the meantime. But being so affected seems indeed to be quite rare. My head would start to hurt and I felt like I had to force my eyes open, thats when I knew it was quitting time. 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. I havent gotten contacts yet but might as Im finding Im wearing the glasses more and more. Worst decision I ever made was to have PRK surgery and to believe the 10 recovery crap! At least the office youre dealing with is being honest, so you can be prepared if you go ahead with it. My vision was way better than before the procedure but still blurry. Originally, I was told three days to a week but as you read further youll learn it was MUCH LONGER plus I needed a second PRK surgery just a year after the first. He laughed. It would just be overwhelmingly depressing to return and confront my condition. Im doubtful of 20/15 but would be grateful. Now all I can think of is the music I cant play and the art I cant create because I cant see well enough. In between that 1 month mark and the 3 month mark, vision continues to steadily improve. The bright sun was HORRIBLE. After the procedure, your eyes will be treated with a sponge containing mitomycin-C (MMC). I have not seen far away, clearly, since prior to the surgery and just ordered glasses for my farsightedness. In addition, my eye doctor had to prescribe glasses to get me to 20/20. Day time vision is functional, though not very crisp. Fluctuations in your vision during the first few weeks after surgery is expected; it can take up to six months for your vision to stabilize. I am 10 weeks post surgery and I dont have another appointment for four more weeks. .y eyes feels like they dont work in sync because of this discrepancy. With PRK, your vision as you sit up from surgery is actually better than if you had LASIK. How I wish I read it earlier so that I can give some thoughts over correcting my eyes. Dry eyes end up not healing as well and pose a much higher risk for infection. 5. I hadPRK 2 months agoandhaveastigmatism/ghosting/haze? Avoid rubbing your eyes and use the eye protection given to you by your doctor even longer than the recommended timeframe. But other than this I had a a two day recovery on both eyes 3 months apart. I had PRk Surgery 10 weeks ago. Through this website I hope you will learn a lot about eye health and vision. Ill summarize here as this story is getting quite long. I work in a kitchen and doing things with vinegar, cutting onions, being near a stove or a grill are a constant struggle and my coworkers and boss think Im being dramatic. It does not appear to be getting any better, either. Patients who have any sort of autoimmune diseases are generally not considered good candidates for laser eye surgery, including PRK. I had to have Verisyse lens implant (a/k/a Phakic Intraocular Lenses) because I was too nearsighted for Lasix. PRK uses an excimer laser to change the shape of the cornea and correct vision. My work requires me to look at a screen and I only took one week off work. 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. They never explained the difference between Lasik and PRK to me and I actually realized they had done PRK after my procedure. I used to enjoy target shooting, motorcycle riding and wanted to own a convertible. I read these stories and I am just shocked as I have never heard of any of this happening at my clinic (PS. I signed a few liability pages waiving my rights to sue for anything and everything. So disappointing. Candace, youre definitely not alone. It feels like I have a sunburn on my right eye and I can not see anywhere near as good as I could have with my glasses. LASIK has little downtime with only a day or so for recovery whereas PRK is much longer. I was so tense, uncomfortable, and completely miserable! 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. I went in for an eye exam (should have before 2yrs) and was told my vision is 1.5 in one eye and -1.5 in another eye so I got glasses and they make a huge difference. Do your eyes feel dry? After 4 to 6 weeks, the patient can then proceed to his regular life and perform detailed tasks such as driving at night where contrast sensitivity and excellent acuity is of extreme importance. This layer serves as the skin-like layer of our cornea. As much as we would like everyone to be perfectly on target after any laser eye surgery, there will be patients that end up off target with residual prescription error. So far so good. I think that was because I had to wear a contact in that eye for the two weeks between the surgeries. But I am bummed out that the surgery didnt help me get the 20/20 vision I wish I could have gotten. Month 3 I can say that I could see very well but still had super dry eyes. And now to begin my infuriating experience. Lasik creates a lasik flap to get past the epithelium. 2. This is normal; for some patients, it takes between six and 12 weeks to see clearly. 7 weeks in from Monovision PRK and I regret doing it. However, I had one eye done at a time, and I developed a severe case of dizziness and nausea from visual/vestibular mismatch after my surgery. But unfortunately this wont always be the case. At this point, I now have 20/100 vision and have lost all hope of ever having even close to 20/20 vision again. I (so far) have not been so lucky. They said give it 6 months. Im relieved to hear you havent seen any of these issues, but based on all the comments and people Ive talked to since my procedure it seems like its not all that uncommon. Its like a dentist visit one persons cavity or root canal can be totally different than another! Thank you so much for sharing your story with me and my readers. So with the shades drawn, I listened to an audiobook in between napping. Thanks so much for sharing your story Amy. This gives us our recovery for the first week. Youre not so young healing of our body is worsening as we get older, and risk for complications arises! my left eye is useless except for the range from 100mm to about 300mm. I laid down and the doctor put an instrument over my head that held my eyelids open. In between that 1 month mark and the 3 month mark, vision continues to steadily improve. I went to my optometrist, hoping I could just get a cheap pair of glasses to hold me off for the next 3-4 months of healing and everything was WAY overpriced. Experiencing total blindness after PRK (which is classified as having zero light perception) is extremely rare. I am so sorry youre going through this experience and please be patient with your recovery and try not to let it get you down too much. Eric Kolovson He told me everyone heals at a different pace. I was told all of these wonderful things about how awesome it would be to see clearly again. They told me at the consultation that they couldnt do Lasik but could do PTK/PRK. Light sensitivity is no joke. Our eyes are nothing to mess with is what Im walking away with except when absolutely necessary. Sounds like a great outcome, doesnt it? It would seem that Ive been very fortunate, so Im terribly sorry to hear about your, and others trying experiences! One major consequence of PRK over LASIK is the longer and much more variable healing/recovery time. It was horrible and took months for my eyes to stabilize. PRK (photorefractive keratology) is a laser eye surgery that corrects refractive errors such as nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia) and astigmatism. Toss of coin. Here are some of the most common things: (but this doesnt include everything and its important to visit your doctor if things continue to be blurry). Im 19. Because I cant see I feel like I cant think clearly either! These nerves usually regenerate in the first three to six months after surgery. There was a steroid drop, numbing drop, antibiotic drop, and artificial tears. The doc looked over my results and said I was definitely viable for an enhancement. Are you all going to private clinics or the big names for LASIK (LASIK Plus, TLC, LVI, etc)? Some deterioration of vision as a result of PRK may not be correctable with the aid of glasses or contact lenses. The retinas light-sensitive cells, the rods and cones, are still recovering. I dont know if I would have still decided to go through with it or not, but at least it wouldnt have been such a surprise. PRK surgery has ruined my life!!! I know many people as well that havent had any issues, but the more I started reading afterward, the more I discovered with many major issues afterward including halos and dry eye. There are no recorded cases of anyone going blind from laser eye surgery. Apparently having your eyes corrected, takes a lot out of you! Although PRK surgery has a 95% success rate, it's important to know that there are risks associated with laser eye surgeries such as PRK. This procedure is one of the best ways to correct visual impairment and is quickly becoming popular around the world. I can give some thoughts over correcting my eyes are nothing to mess with is Im. Uncomfortable, and risk for infection works better for low to moderate farsightedness than.! Going blind from laser eye surgery, including PRK but being so affected seems to. Can occur motorcycle riding and wanted to own a convertible is useless except for the first three to months. 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