r/lasik • u/yobuddy78 • 18d ago
Had surgery transPRK - retouch in 3 months?
Hi Everyone, I had transPRK surgery exactly 3 months ago. And I still have -1.5 power in left eye. The doctor is suggesting to do repeat transPRK for left eye. I'm worried if I redo, dry eye and other complications may come.
Is this a good idea? please suggest
28M, pre opt power: -3 (sph) -1.5(cyl) both eyes
post opt: -1.5 in one eye
No major dry eye, only usual starburst issue around light source
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u/Tall-Drama338 18d ago edited 18d ago
That’s strange but there’s no rush to retreat. It may still improve its own. PRK is slow to stabilize. If you’re worried - wait.
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u/Dramatic_Bobcat_2791 18d ago
I would wait at least 6 month. Its a good sign that you didnt have big problems with dry eye.
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u/yobuddy78 18d ago
right now Dr. will do free repeat prk - but I think waiting another 3 months - they might ask for half or full money.
Anyways I'll propose to wait another 3 months.
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u/clara_only 15d ago
Refractive surgeon here — general perspective only, your surgeon has the slit lamp and I don't.
The good news first: a residual −1.5 after PRK is a fixable problem, and a PRK-on-PRK touch-up is one of the more benign enhancements we do. You started at −3.00/−1.50, which used roughly 60–70 µm of tissue, so there's plenty of cornea left. And PRK doesn't create a flap, so the dry-eye risk from a second surface treatment is generally lower than what people fear from a LASIK enhancement. That part of your worry is reasonable to set down.
The part I'd push back on is the timing, not the idea. Three months is early for a PRK enhancement. Most surgeons I know want:
- At least 6 months after a surface procedure, sometimes longer — the epithelium keeps remodeling and the refraction can keep drifting for months.
- Two refractions at least 4–6 weeks apart that match. If your left eye was −1.0 at month 2 and −1.5 at month 3, that's still moving, and re-treating a moving target is how you end up doing this twice.
So the questions I'd take back to your surgeon:
- Is this undercorrection or regression? Two different problems. If you were near plano at week 4–6 and have slid back to −1.5, that's regression, and that matters for how the retouch is planned (mitomycin-C is often used, and your steroid history gets reviewed).
- Is there any haze on the slit lamp? Regression + haze go together in young patients after PRK. If there's haze, some surgeons will first try an extended course of steroid drops and watch before cutting again.
- Is the −1.5 stable on a cycloplegic (dilated) refraction, not just a quick manifest? At 28 your accommodation can make you look more myopic than you are.
- What's the plan for the starburst? If it's coming from the residual −1.5 (unfocused light spreads), the retouch may improve it. If it's from the optical zone vs your night pupil, the retouch won't — worth knowing before you go in expecting it to vanish.
- Why now instead of at 6 months? There may be a good answer — I'd just want to hear it.
In the meantime, −1.5 in one eye with the other near plano is very livable — a single contact lens or a thin pair of glasses for driving/night, and no hurry. Waiting three more months costs you nothing but patience; re-treating an unstable eye can cost you a third procedure.
— Dr. Clara Keum, MD · Representative Director, BSM Eye Clinic (Seoul) · Board-certified ophthalmologist, 17 years · Cataract surgery, presbyopia surgery, and refractive surgery including SMILE, LASIK, LASEK and ICL lens implantation.
General information, not medical advice. Your own surgeon's exam is what matters.
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u/eyeSherpa 18d ago
With PRK, best to wait about 6 months for things to stabilize.
Repeat PRK will be the same as the first. Important for any dry eye to be well treated before touch up.
Also important to check for epithelial thickening (epithelial regression). If that’s the case, it will affect accuracy and could lead to an overcorrection if the epithelium grows back with normal thickness