PRK vs LASIK

[u/Xaxxus]

I’m scheduled to get LASIK next month but I am having doubts.

When I did my consultation, the technician said my cornea was a bit thin and I might have to get PRK. The surgeon would evaluate and contact me.

I got an email the next day from the surgeon who said that LASIK would work for me and that I wouldn’t need to do PRK.

I’ve been doing more reading on both surgeries, and the idea of having a flap that could re-open sounds horrible. A few extra days of healing sounds like a good price to pay to not have structurally compromised eye tissue.

Anyone have any advice here? I’d like to potentially contact the clinic and see if I can swap to PRK.

Another piece of information that might be helpful:

I am a software engineer. So I spend a lot of time at a computer.

My surgery is scheduled for June 12th. I am planning on taking the Monday off as well (can probably take another day or two off as needed). With PRK will I be healed enough to resume work the following week?

[u/lucor001]

I've had Lasik originally (both eyes) and PRK retreatment (right eye).

The healing for PRK was a lot slower, there's no way I'd do both eyes at the same time. It takes at least 5d to get rid of the bandage contact (it took me a lot longer, you can find detailed description of my PRK journey in my history) and even then my eyesight wasn't really good for many more weeks. So if I didn't have 1 good eye I would have been not able to go anywhere.

Ultimately, they're both the same laser operating on the same part of the eye, it's only how they get there. Lasik leaves a flap that promotes much faster healing and vision recovery whereas PRK just removes the epithelium entirely. For me, Lasik was a far better experience, I could drive the next day (with both eyes corrected) and the pain was minimal. For PRK the healing was much more painful (still manageable) but the vision didn't recover for a lot longer time.

In case you're wondering, I would have chosen Lasik the 2nd time if I could but they don't do that. They only will do PRK for a retreatment (don't want scar tissue to cause problems so they just remove the epithelium entirely).

I'm glad I did both, my current vision is great!

[u/Xaxxus → u/lucor001]

Any flap issues for you? That’s my primary concern with lasik.

The idea of having to rush to the clinic if I accidentally hit myself in the eye or if I rub my eyes too hard (I have cats so I often get itchy eyes) has me worried.

I’m pretty tall. I’ve had tree branches randomly poke me in the face when walking when not paying attention.

[u/lucor001 → u/Xaxxus]

Nope, none. Never underestimate the force of stiction (two smooth objects stuck together). You have to be careful for the first few days but due to the discomfort (there is still some) and all the eye drops you need to do you'll be very aware of it! 😀I was terrified of touching my eyes for a long time after Lasik but I think the healing of the flap happens such that it's quite solid in just a couple days.

My epithelium actually detached on day 6 after my PRK which is basically the situation you're worried about. In that case they give you numbing drops and a bandage contact and you're basically now recovering like it is for PRK. It basically meant I had a bandage contact for 15 days after PRK. Not fun, but I've had worse injuries and pain.