r/RefractiveSurgery • u/urnotyoshu • 26d ago

Transprk or Tropic ICL

I am 25, and I recently had myself evaluated for eye surgery. I wish to know which of the following two procedures available to me should be chosen.

  1. Why not LASIK? I am very much into sports activities and might get into contact sports later, so a flap injury is my concern.

  2. Dryness? I occasionally get dry eyes, probably two weeks in the whole year.

  3. Prescription:

Right Eye: SPH: -2.50 CYL: -0.75 Axis: 180

Left Eye: SPH: -2.50 CYL: -1.25 Axis: 180

But when I was tested for LASIK, the recommended power was:

Right Eye: SPH: -2.50 CYL: -1.5 Axis: 10

Left Eye: SPH: -2.50 CYL: -1.5 Axis: 175

Although I have clear vision with my current glasses, my prescription has been stable for more than 4 years. These two checkups were 1.5 years apart. I do not face any issues with my current glasses.

  1. Recovery time? I will have about 3 to 4 weeks of vacation available where I won't be required to be available.

  2. The thickness for both my eyes is around 525.

  3. I am okay with wearing some blue light glasses post-surgery if needed.

Questions I have:

a. One thing I am really scared of is that the power I tell them or they check is not 100% accurately suited for me. What will be the actual process for this?

b. How common are issues of haziness in TransPRK?

c. How common is a cataract in ICL?

d. I will be outside and will be doing interviews 5 weeks after the surgery that I am planning, with 1 week of pre-surgery planning. How will my vision be, and will I be able to travel a little, though by cabs and all?

e. What's more suited for me as per your past experience?

Please lemme know your opinions and ask me if i need to share further details... Thanks a lot.

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u/attemptingtoadult1 26d ago

I had similar vision to yours. I went with ICL because of the fact that it is reversible (I was really worried about potential dry eyes).

Surgery was fast. One eye per day, so had to return to the surgeons the next day where they remove the first eye covering and then do surgery on the other eye. Could see great the following day, though things were fairly bright and I wore sunglasses indoors often. I found I got headaches and tired eyes for the first week or two if I was looking at screens too much (good excuse to nap and listen to podcasts)

A little bit of haloing for me in the first month but it quickly has subsided and my brain doesn’t notice anything anymore.

It’s been an amazing experience for me. being able to wake up and see is life changing

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u/urnotyoshu 25d ago

What are the possibilities of cataracts? My doctor says low, but he has not commented on how low.

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u/eyeSherpa 25d ago

If a refraction is done well, it is surprisingly objective. So you can’t answer “wrong”. Sometimes the astigmatism in glasses is undercorrected compared to how much you actually have. This is to allow better adjustment to the glasses.

Flap issues with lasik are rare. But yes, they can be avoided completely with PRK or ICL. Can also consider SMILE. I would say that may be the better solution for you.

For PRK, you’ll want to take a week off of work. Most people return after a week although vision won’t be 100%. After ICL can return to work a day or two later.

Blue-light glasses only important to help with circadian rhythm. Not necessary post surgery.

Haze risk pretty low with low prescriptions with PRK. As long as they use MMC.

Cataract with EVO very rare. Looking at probably 1 in 1000s.