My Road to PRK Vision Correction

For years I have dreamed of 20/20 vision. I’ve worn glasses or contacts since kindergarten, so seeing clearly without the help of those is mere fantasy. At night, I typically take out my contacts when getting ready for bed, then use my 6-year-old glasses to watch TV or read in bed. (When you only wear glasses at night, in the privacy of your own home, who cares of they are broken and outdated?)

I’ve known lots of people to “go under the knife” and have vision correction surgery, but I was always way too scared of the procedure to ever contemplate it seriously. But then in June, my eye doctor said something that changed my mind. During a routine eye exam, he explained that with each consecutive year of contact lens use the risks of infection of vision problems increase. According to my doc, the risks really increase around year 30 of consecutive contact lens use. I just passed year 20, so the 30-year mark seemed to be looming on the horizon. Suddenly the risks associated with vision correction surgery didn’t feel so scary.

So I called the office to schedule my free consultation to find out if I even qualified for the procedure, and was told I’d need to wear my glasses for two solid weeks before the consultation. No contacts for two whole weeks? Yikes? Remember how I said my glasses were six years old, broken and hardly fit for public consumption? My vanity got the better of me and I told her I’d call back.

I finally called back six weeks later and scheduled my consultation for the first day the kids were back in school – August 25. I dutifully took out my contacts on August 10, and wore my old-school glasses for two agonizing weeks (can you tell I REALLY hate those things?). The big day arrived and I was tested, dilated, and tested some more. Because the surgeon was off that day, he had to review my results and call me on Tuesday to discuss my options. My procedure was tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, the 27th.

At 2pm on Tuesday, I got the news… I did NOT qualify for Lasik because my cornea is too thin. Instead, they could perform PRK vision correction. For anyone who has not entered the crazy, mixed up world of vision correction, here’s a quick run down on the difference.

• Lasik involves a flap being cut in the cornea surface. The flap is lifted and pushed to the side, and then the laser makes the necessary changes to the cornea to fix your vision. The flap is then replaced and the eye begins to heal immediately. Because there’s only a small cut along three sides of your cornea, the healing process happens within a day — all while you’re happily sleeping (thanks to some sleeping pills). You wake up and have perfect vision. Yahoo!
• PRK is essentially the same thing, minus the flap, because some people don’t have enough room in their cornea to have a flap and then still “fix” the cornea. So instead, a very very thin outer later is removed with chemicals, then the laser continues to make the necessary changes to the cornea to fix your vision. The big difference is in healing time. Instead of a few small cuts that need to heal, you have a big gaping “hole” in your cornea that needs to “grow over”. In essence, the PR in PRK = Painful Recovery (OK, so that’s not the exact meaning, but it works!).

When I was told I needed PRK, I cancelled my 8/27 procedure. Instead, I scheduled my surgery for September 17th, so I could plan ahead for the estimated 5-10 days recovery period. I was able to put my contacts back in (thankfully) until the 12th (they have to be out for 5 days prior to the PRK surgery).

More to come…