What It Was Like Getting PRK Laser Eye Surgery

Long overdue, today I’m talking about my PRK laser eye surgery experience from March 2020. The craziest detail, which a lot of people don’t really know, is that I had the surgery on Friday, March 13 (see also: what was I thinking getting eye surgery on Friday the 13th?), and almost REALLY backed myself into a corner. You’ll understand why as you read on.

On a personal note, I had a lot of fun drudging through these old pictures. I haven’t referred back to these much since Kevin took them that day. As I’ll touch on, I’m not a huge fan of eyes, which made this an ever bigger feat of bravery for me. But as such, I didn’t really want to look at the photos right away. Which reminds me…

WARNING!
Pictures of eyeballs ahead. 👀

What is PRK Laser Eye Surgery?

PRK, or photo-refractive keratectomy, was actually around before LASIK (#OG). It’s a type of refractive surgery to correct myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness) and astigmatism.

This kind of surgery uses a laser to treat vision problems caused by refractive errors, which are types of vision problems that makes it hard to see clearly (hence all the blurriness I experienced that I’ll go over later).

Why I Had to Have PRK Instead of LASIK

In short, the cornea on one of my eyes was too thin to make the ‘flap’ they create during the LASIK process. Unusually thin corneas basically rule out LASIK for you. But fear not, because that’s why PRK eye surgery exists!

How is PRK Different from LASIK?

PRK is incredibly similar to LASIK. It’s the way the doctor accesses your cornea that makes the major difference between the two surgeries. That one detail in turn shapes the road to recovery from either surgery differently.

With PRK, your ophthalmologist will remove the outer layer cells on your cornea, the epithelium, using a gentle brush. In LASIK, the doctor creates a small flap using the outer cornea cells, while still leaving those cells essentially in tact. This flap grants access to the underlying tissue prior to using the laser.
Once they have access, the eye surgeon reshapes your corneal tissue with a highly accurate laser. My lasers took 4 seconds on one eye and 5 seconds on the other. Nine total seconds for the actual laser eye surgery, how amazing! This step is actually very similar in both surgeries.
After PRK surgery, your ophthalmologist will place a contact lens (acting as a bandage) over your eye to allow the surface layer of the cornea to regenerate and heal, and to aid in your comfort following the procedure. The lens itself doesn’t impede your vision, it’s simply to protect the eye as it heals. To my understanding, there’s no contact lens-like bandage after LASIK, your eye is exposed as normal as the flap then re-covers your cornea.
Unlike LASIK, you’ll experience a day or two of extremely blurred vision after PRK surgery. This is normal! In layman’s terms, it’s your outer cornea cells regenerating and as they’re doing so your vision will be a bit blurry. Because PRK surgery actually removes cells your recovery is expected to be a bit longer; mine was about five days before my vision felt really clear again. Speak with your ophthalmologist prior to your surgery so you know what to expect.

For me personally, I got the PRK surgery on Friday and the weekend was okay. I was a little blurry but I could navigate screens and things okay.

However, Monday was when I first had the extreme blurriness. I couldn’t even read my cell phone my eyes were so blurry, so much so that I had to ask Siri to call my boss so I could tell her what was going on and that I’d be taking time off that day. Luckily, she’d had LASIK and her best friend had PRK so she really understood the path I was on. By the next day (day four post-op) I was able to at least see my computer enough to work slowly.

My Detailed PRK Laser Eye Surgery Experience

The first thing my doctor did before my PRK laser eye surgery is provide an oral sedative. I was able to sit in a comfortable room with Kevin (my support, photographer, and ride home 😊) and they allowed time for it to kick in prior to starting the PRK surgery. This really helped as I’m not very comfortable with people touching my eye (as most people are not).

Once we got to the operating area, they administered numbing eye drops to ensure I didn’t feel any physical pain or discomfort. Then, the ophthalmologist placed an eyelid holder to gently hold my eye lids open during the procedure. It’s my understanding these pre-op steps are the same for LASIK surgeries.

The eyelid holder may sound weird but honestly, I wasn’t bothered by it which shocked me because I’m basically Rachel Green when it comes to stuff with my eyes. After the surgery, which really only took 10-15 minutes, I sat in a comfortable room again to re-adjust to lighting slowly. Then, they tested my eyes on some vision charts and went over post-op care. After that we were on our way!

Getting PRK Right Before the Pandemic

Let me tell you about a HUGE mistake I almost made.

Several people told me that oftentimes PRK laser eye surgery patients get one eye done at a time because the recovery can be a little more involved than LASIK. As mentioned, you have a few really blurry days, so I guess people will do one eye at a time to have a good eye available during recovery.

I opted not to do this.

The idea of having one good eye and one bad eye sounded dizzying and I decided to do both at the same time and power through. And THANK GOODNESS I DID. My surgery was on Friday, March 13, 2020 and as you may realize… the world shut down that following Monday.

For my follow up appointments that next week I wasn’t even allowed inside the office. Patients had to wait in the cars and a nurse would come out and consult. They shut their offices down entirely a few days later. There’s NO TELLING when I would’ve been able to get back in and get my second eye done. I would’ve had to wear my glasses still, and now with one lens popped out for months, I’m sure!

Thankfully, this shouldn’t be a factor anymore, but it’s something for you to consider when booking your PRK surgery if anything like that is on the horizon.

What I Had Trouble Seeing Well Before PRK Eye Surgery

Earlier we defined PRK as a laser eye surgery to help correct refractive errors, which are what vision problems that make it hard to see clearly. Here’s a list of things that were blurry to me (if I wasn’t wearing my glasses) before I received PRK.

Computer screens
Dark bars and restaurants
Wedding receptions
Movies
Hockey games (moving too fast)
Football games (field has lots of detail)
Watching any sports on TV
The Guide on the TV
Theatre events (live or movie)
Driving at night

There’s so many more things I’m probably just not remembering, but I think I’ve made my point. A lot of things that should be really enjoyable (or essential, like driving at night) were not without glasses.

You might wonder what the big deal about wearing glasses is for me? So many people do it every day, right? Well, I get terrible sinus headaches, that are really more like face aches, and a lot of the pressure is RIGHT on the bridge of my nose where glasses lay. This means any time I have a terrible sinus headache wearing glasses would be painful but I needed them on even see my computer screen a.k.a. work.

PRK Laser Eye Surgery Patient Tips

There’s a few things I did know, or would’ve loved to know in advance of my surgery. Here are my tips for future PRK (and LASIK) surgery patients:

You cannot wear eye makeup for a week following your procedure.
You can’t rub your eyes for a few months following the procedure, so invest in a nice eye makeup remover that doesn’t involve heavy rubbing.
Since you cannot rub your eyes, invest in a nice sleeping eye mask to be sure you don’t rub them in your sleep or during your morning haze.

If you plan on working out in the week after surgery, buy a sweatband because you cannot sweat into your eyes (hats won’t cut it).
For my long haired ladies, be sure to pull it back out of your face, especially outdoors/when it’s windy, don’t let it get in your eyes.
If you plan on using any oral sedatives, you cannot drive yourself home. In some cases I’ve heard after LASIK you can see well enough to get yourself home, but if you took an oral sedative driving would be illegal. Plan to bring someone with you!

My Only Regret with PRK Laser Eye Surgery

Not doing it sooner!! This is literally, truly my only regret. It has changed my life for the better and I recommend it to every single person who asks about it.

Does Insurance Cover PRK?

Similar to LASIK, PRK is an elective surgery and is not typically covered by most insurers. However, you can use your HSA/FSA accounts to help fund the surgery. I paid for a little over half of mine with my work HSA and joke that my employer paid for one eye and I covered the other. 😄 But this was also 3+ years ago, so standards could’ve changed. Check with your employer regarding your benefits prior to booking and paying for your surgery!

How are you feeling after all of this PRK laser eye surgery information? I know it’s a lot, and it’s possible I missed some details. Let me know your questions or your own PRK/LASIK experience in the comments!

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