Lasik, or PRK? Both!

Kevan went "under the knife" well, laser actually, Thursday 9/14 for vision correction.

Originally he was going to have Lasik performed on both eyes; however, his right cornea was highly asymmetric (probably why he has an astigmasism). This put him on the borderline for a potentially evaluated risk of a condition called corneal ectasia; that is a bulging of the cornea. Corneal ectasia can some times be treated, but sometimes requires a cornea transplant. Not a risk Kevan wanted to take, even if he was borderline and there was only a potential for an increase in the risk. The left eye was not in the risk category, so Kevan had Lasik for that eye and PRK for the right eye.

The difference is this, in Lasik a “flap” is created and the Laser ablation is performed under the flap and the flap is replaced. In PRK the top layer of cells, the epithelium is scrapped off, then the same laser process is performed on the top of the cornea, but now the epithelium just has to grow back, and the cornea experiences more trauma. The result is, the day of surgery after a nap the left eye was possibly already 20/20 and relatively pain free while the right eye 5 days later is still pretty blurry. The right eye was also very painful for the first 48 hours. The other difference is that the left eye only needs drops for 5 days, the right eye will be getting drops for over a month. According to the doctor by the 6-month follow up (there are other follows before then) the results should be the same. The right eye could take 6 weeks to 6 months to reach optimum vision. Kevan is hoping for sooner that later.

For the eye undergoing Lasik the result was nothing short of incredible. Fantastic vision the next day after surgery. However, it should be noted that once a “flap” has been cut, there is always a “flap” (this is how “enhancements” are done). Once healing is complete for PRK it is possibly undetectable with no residual difference.

If your thinking about it Lasik, go check it out, but also look into LASEK, it has the promise of falling in between Lasik and PRK. However, given the almost immediate results of Lasik, it is not likely LASEK will catch on. So far (5 days out) Kevan is really happy with the results, that is as long at the right eye continues to get better.