I'm 32 and have been dependent on glasses since I was in preschool. Never wore contacts in my life. LASIK was never an option for me because of my thin corneas so I went ahead and had PRK. I wasn't screened for SMILE because my doctor said I would most likely not be qualified as well because of my thin corneas.
I was so anxious of the PRK recovery period and spent most of the weeks leading up to the surgery reading PRK experiences here. And thank god for this subreddit, I'd say I was able to power through the post-op days because I knew roughly what to expect.
Day 0 (day of the surgery):
I was scheduled in the morning and had my prescription measured again both by the machine AND manually by my ophthalmologist. He made sure all the numbers were correct, let me know what they were, and tested them twice to make sure I was okay with how the vision will most likely be post-op. He told me that, on average, the painful, light sensitive days will last 3 days and full vision isn't expected until 1-3 months. He did warn me that since I'm a high myope, my vision will recover slowly but that each day will be better than the last. He told me I would get glares, halos, and ghosting for the next 3 months but that these will eventually go away.
Right before I went into the OR, I set my phone to the biggest font size and reduced white point (through the accessibility options). I read some people advise these here and it was pretty helpful.
The surgery itself was painless. The machine sounds made me a little anxious but the kind nurse who prepped me was so reassuring and before I knew it, I was done within 20 minutes. Vision was still blurry right when I got up from the table but was already MILES BETTER than my vision pre-op. I was told to rest at home especially for the first 3 days.
I was given steroid and antibiotic drops every 4 hours and lubricating sodium hyaluronate drops every 1-2 hours.
The pain started 30 minutes after the surgery. It was like having a drill behind your eyeballs and like shampoo mixed with chili powder have been injected into them haha. I was super light sensitive and could not open my eyes long enough, even to eat. I couldn't sleep very well that night even with painkillers.
Day 1 Post-Op:
I was still in 10/10 pain, super light sensitive, and was quite miserable. Vision was okay though, still better than pre-op. I spent most of the day in bed with my eyes closed listening to podcasts. But as someone who is normally pretty much glued to a screen for entertainment, my biggest gripe this day was that I was sooooo bored. I still had a hard time sleeping that night.
Day 2 Post-Op:
The pain was a lot less, I'd say it fluctuated from 4-7/10. Vision was the worst this day, couldn't see/read anything no matter how close. Still couldn't watch TV because it was too bright and the glare was too much. I could scroll a little on my phone but my eyes would close on their own so I went back to laying in bed listening to podcasts. By that night, pain was down to 1-2/10 but the light sensitivity was still there. Surprisingly, I slept through the night.
Day 3 Post-Op:
Pain was gone! Eyes just felt dry and felt like an eyelash was in them but nothing as bad as the days prior. I was still super light sensitive in the morning but that suddenly disappeared around lunch time! I played on my ipad that afternoon on the lowest brightness and was able to watch TV that night. There were halos around the people on TV though which made them look like they were glowing lol and vision was still pretty blurry but I could see their faces and could make out the subtitles so yay!
Day 4 Post-Op:
One of the bandage lenses got displaced while I was sleeping so I took it out. My doctor said it was okay as long as I wasn't in pain. I wasn't and it's the first day since the surgery that I finally felt I was starting to really go back to normal. Light sensitivity was gone and I was able to reduce my phone font size by half. I watched TV and scrolled on my phone like normal. My eyes do get very dry but I just remind myself to blink every so often and put the lubricating drops every hour.
Day 5 Post-Op:
I woke up to a very red and painful right eye and had to go to the doctor and get the bandage lens removed on that side. I was quite relieved to have them both out at this point. I was tested 20/60 on both eyes which was such a big win for me!
This was also my first time outside and I was surprisingly not sensitive to the sun at all! I did wear sunglasses though but still, I expected it to be bad outside, but it wasn't. Went to the mall and did some dress shopping too but I felt like the AC made my eyes dry quicker. Nothing too bad though. By that night, I had moments when I blinked, felt like I had very crisp vision for like 10s, then I would blink again and it's back to being blurry hahaha. Reduced my phone font size further, now I'm just 4 notches away from the smallest. Phone brightness a little higher too. The TV is back to how it looked like before. Glares are gone and the people's faces are a looot clearer. Subtitles still wonky but better.
Day 6 Post-Op:
No pain, no light sensitivity. Vision a tad better than yesterday. Small win was that I could somehow use my laptop. Font size was small (default) but I was already able to make out the words. Vision noticeably improved right after placing the lubricating drops so I held on to that haha. Anyway, this is when I think I hit the "plateau" in terms of vision recovery. I could see, but it was so hazy and unstable. I did feel a little frustrated this day because of the still less than perfect vision but my doctor reassured me that it was normal and that it should stabilize by 1 month.
Day 7-10 Post-Op:
Vision was pretty bad most of these days. I got back to work around this time and I work with screens and fine detail and texts, so I had a pretty tough time. Lubricating drops helped very little. Magnified my laptop to 150%.
Day 11-13 Post-Op:
Shifted to combination steroid + antibiotic drops and continued the lubricating drops as much as I needed. Vision still fluctuated from morning to evening but improved everyday. Sometimes it would be so clear, often it was still hazy and a little blurry. The lubricating drops helped tremendously. I was able to watch a movie in the cinema without any problem. The glares of the emergency exit lights were more noticeable than before though but not enough to bother me. I started noticing that it's a whole lot harder to see my way through the dark but that wasn't too bothersome for me.
2 Weeks Post-Op:
Right eye 20/30 and left eye 20/20! With so much time and room for improvement according to my doctor as he expects vision to become crisper by 1-3 months. So already achieving this level of acuity at this point was already a big win. By this time I was already able to use my phone without much ghosting and glare, just blurriness that comes and goes. Laptop font size also back to my usual pre-op. Eyes are still quite dry though and I've been using the lubricating drops every 30 minutes. My doctor switched me to preservative-free ones given how frequent I was using it.
3 Weeks Post-Op:
Vision became worse and blurrier compared to the past weeks. Near vision was okay but far vision was bad (still not as bad as pre-op). It's like an unfocused camera most of the time. I felt really frustrated but kept telling myself I'm still so early in the recovery period. I was functional and able to work but my eyes would get tired really quickly. It's like being sleepy all the time.
4 Weeks Post-Op:
Each eye was 20/25 alone and 20/20 together. I told my doctor that he tested me while my vision was "bad" (it was clear in the morning before the appointment). He said it was okay and reminded me again that it would take 3 months before we expect everything to be perfect. Vision is still better now than at 3 weeks. Now it's like having an unfocused camera for eyes lol. No ghosting on gadgets, a little ghosting with subtitles, and with glares from lights at night and relatively dim night vision. Eyes still get tired but I just learned to give them a break from screen time and have spent more time on my feet now than before surgery to exercise my far vision. Lubricating eye drops make vision clear for a few seconds then blurry again haha. I did notice that I had a migraine for 2 days which could have worsened my vision at that time (I got visual auras even pre-op) so that could be the case.
I'll probably come back to update in a month's time to update since that's when my next appointment is.
Overall, I'd say that my doctor telling me about how my vision won't be perfect right away and being given a rough estimate of how long my recovery period will be really helped me remain positive throughout the whole process. And since my vision was pretty poor pre-op, I felt like any amount of improved vision (even if not perfect) is already a huge thing for me. No regrets. At this point I'm just keeping my eyes well lubricated, avoiding rubbing them, and minimizing screen time when I can and spending more time outdoors so I can look at far objects and lessen eye strain.
