My PRK – The Day Of
I’m not supposed to be TECHNICALLY writing this (or be on the computer at all), but since I’m an apparent addict; Here we go.
Yesterday, I had my PRK surgery done. For those that don’t know, PRK is another form of laser eye surgery. PRK has been around longer than LASIK, but the popularity of LASIK comes from the quicker healing time versus PRK> However, many will still swear that better vision and better long term eye health is attained through PRK.
The main difference is, that in LASIK, the surgeon uses either a scalpel or a laser to basically cut through the cornea of your yee. It cuts enough so that they can lift up a flap of the cornea and allow the laser to reform your cornea. In PRK, they shave off the first layer (the epithelial) layer of your cornea. The epithelial layer, since it is completely shaven off, will regrow completely, but it takes about a week. With LASIK, the flap that was cut gets put right back on, and all it has to do is heal where it was cut.
The reason I was getting PRK rather than LASIK has to do with the thickness of my cornea. I was borderline for LASIK, and the doctors at TLC Vision center advised that PRK would be better for my long term eye health. Since LASIK cuts deeper into the cornea, there is the possibility for more complications if the patient’s cornea is thin like mine. With PRK…like I said, it regrows completely at the expense of the longer timeframe.
So January 4th, 2008 was my appointment. I was told that I would spend aout three or four hours at the center, so I was prepared to be bored. I arrived promptly at 10:00am. I would like to say that I was completely prepared for this, and not nervous at al…however I’d be lying. I woke up that day after about three hours of sleep. I was stuck at work doing a switch migration until 3:00am, so waking up at 8:00am after a restless night was not fun in the least. After waking up, there was that feeling of nervousness that accompanies any type of procedure where the doctor will fire a laser in your eye.
Upon arrival, I filled out all the waiver forms and signed my life away. In true shacker fashion, I made a final post on the shack from the waiting room and verified my nerd-dom to my boss at work. I was given a Xanax, but I have no idea what it was supposed to even do. I didn’t feel any different, any better or worse. It didnt matter, I had waited for so long for this damned procedure, I wasn’t about to back out now. The entire thing actually took a lot quicker than I expected. After going back and forth and settling the waivers and monetary considerations, an hour had already passed. I was then taken to the back and given the good old preparatory speech. I then had my doctor go over my tests, charts, waveforms and all that. Following his analysis, it was time. I spoke briefly with the doc about what was actually going to happen, what the healing time would be and what to expect. I then went into the laser room. When they tell you to wear a long sleeve shirt, they are not kidding. It was pretty cold in there, and I had a fleece on.
The procedure itself was fairly uneventful. The procedure for both eyes took about ten minutes total. The first thing they did was numb my eyes with a decent amount of dumbing drops. After that, they taped my eyelid up, and inserted some doohickey under the eyelid to make sure I don’t blink. Then the doctor took his tools and started scraping away at my eye. I did not feel a thing. After that, they centered the laser on my eye, and let it go to work. The laser then started pulsing and cutting away at my eye. I could smell the burning cornea as it did its work. Each eye took about 45 seconds of actual laser work. After that was done, they gave me a protective contact lens and sent me home. Total time there: two hours…better than expected.
After coming home, I spent the majority of the day sleeping. I called Misty on the way back because I promised I would, but was greeted with a voicemail prompt. I later found out there was a very good reason, but it’s irrelevant now. I told her everything went well and said I’d call back later. Like I said….I spent the majority of the day sleeping or with my eyes closed, but in no mood to really talk to anyone. After leaving, my vision was blurry. The doc said that it would take a while for it to stabilize and become sharp. It is rather annoying, however, having blurry vision (hell, I can’t even see this as I’m typing it), and not having any way to correct it. I just have to wait for it to heal on its own…bummer.
I was told there would be discomfort for the first few days. I would have slight pain in my eyes, have dry eyes, and perhaps have itchiness in my eyes. During the first day I experienced none of that. I was given various eye drops to take. One was Zymar, then there were some steroids, another drop called Alcon (or something similar…it’s basically tylenol for the eyes), and lubricating drops. The Zymar and steroids I am to take every two hours today, and the lubricating drops every hour. This is the pattern for the day of and day one. Afterwards, I will be taking the steroids and zymar four times a day until they remove the protective contact lens from my eyes. I have an appointment on Thursday for them to take a look at my healing and make that determination. The Alcon I have to take twice a day for the first two days…so tomorrow will by the end of that.
Anyway…so far so good.
