LASIK or PRK?

As a combined birthday/christmas gift, my mom is paying for me to get LASIK. The office also does PRK and I'm debating a bit between the two. I'm scheduled to get the procedure on the 29th, so I'll have 5 days of recovery before going back to work.

The doctors was saying he was planning on LASIK, so I'm leaning towards that as his expert opinion (since it doesn't change the cost for them either way).

From my research, seems like PRK is more uncomfortable and takes longer (but not that long to heal from), but has the advantage of no corneal flap that could potentially dislodge in the future.

LASIK heals faster, seems to be easier to make refinements too, and sounds like there are fewer vision problems (light sensitivity/halos, astigmatism). Disadvantage is the corneal flap that can get knocked out of place. But typically, I hear about that in only really serious situations.

What are people's particular experiences with either procedure?

all depends on the laser used to be honest. we use a blade free procedure with our lasik procedures

my optometrist told me (I had Lasik 8 YO) that PRK was a better choice (wish I'd know then) for me with my dry eye syndrome.... she said that PRK didn't cut the nerves like Lasik did... (those that control the tears)...

Grtechguy might want to comment on this, giving you a more in depth / accurate explanation of what she meant....

I had PRK done last September, didn't have a choice of lasik/prk

My eyes were BAAAAAD, as in there was no way I could read the keyboard without my glasses.
The first few days were painful, I sat in a dark room with sunglasses on, a couple days I woke up and it hurt so bad that I couldn't open my eyes to put in drops. The first 6 months or so I couldn't go outside with out shades on, and for the first year I had a waiver from the doc so I could wear them in uniform.
Now a year and some later its much better, unless its really sunny I don't have to have shades on. My eyes don't dry out anymore and most of my night vision has returned.

The lasik recovery is supposed to be better, and some people will walk out that day and drive home.....But I don't know if I would do it again.....

your mileage may vary, I'm not a doctor nor do I play one on T/V, this post copy write by me, seek medical attention if condition last for more then 4 hours.......

I do not have issues with dry eyes. The place I'm going to has the best reputation in the region for LASIK (they also do PRK, I gather with the same equipment). Really, my only concern is what the likelihood of dislodging the flap doing something like, taking a hit in the car, or taking a short fall climbing or something. That seems fairly low, though.

I'm lucky, my eyes aren't too bad. I need to wear glasses, but I only have like a -1.5/-1.75 correction. I can read letters on a keyboard from about 4-5 feet away.

I had a similar conversation with my doctor earlier this year, and went with LASIK. Not a moment's regret, although the second half of Operation Day was pretty painful. Felt like someone had cut my eyeball open with a laser.

My regular eye doctor comments every time on how perfect the flap on my eye is. So, good job mr surgeon. That's why I went to the high-end doctor, not the local version of Dr. Nick.

Okay, glad to hear that. These guys are excellent, incredibly professional. I've seen them for my general optometry needs a couple times and been very impressed. They are pretty well synonymous with high-quality LASIK in the region.

There are 6 doctors who are part of the team. This is the guy who will be doing my surgery: http://www.lasikworld.com/kwang-kim.html

I also like the fact that their main office is literally around the corner, and their second office is just a short drive from where I work.

I'm dumb:

Which of these two procedures involves the cutting of the eye?

That freaks me out.

lasik=cut a flap, filp the flap over, laser the eye, flip the flap back over

prk=scrap off some of the eye, then laser

the entire thing is freaky, they clamp your eye open so even though your brain says blink(and one eye blinks) nothing happens,then this little blade slides.....you know what never mind, lets just say its freaky

No, just no.

I like my eyeglasses and will keep them.

They've saved my eyes quite a few times at work.

I'm also not comfortable playing the odds that surgery will go badly. You only have one set of eyes, ever.

How much of a problem are corrective lenses, really?

Shawn

I never realized how uncomfortable my eyes were for 22 years until after I had the surgery. Seriously, I still smile to myself in the morning when I realize I don't need to stick my lens in.

I'm much more aware of potential eye damage in the shop now, though. Not because my eyes are more fragile (I always wore a contact lens) but because, well, I'm just more aware of them. If you're in a position where your eyes might be damaged at work, you should be wearing eye protection no matter how good your vision is.

Yeah, contacts drive me nuts. I only wear them for racing because trying to deal with a helmet, head sock, and glasses is a pain.

I'm not fond of glasses either. They smudge, slide down, and sometimes just get uncomfortable on my nose. I'd really like to be free to not deal with any of that mess.

I've been wondering this lately as well. Not that I'm in a position to get it done right now, but it would be so nice. I hate wearing glasses and contacts. LASIK freaks me out because of the whole eye flap thing.

I'm waiting for lens implants to be perfected. Small slit in the cornea, slip in lens, voila, perfect vision. Vision changes? Swap out the lens. No lasers, no flaps, no worries about halos and other side effects. Until then my contacts will go in every morning as they have been for the last 18 years.

2.0dohc wrote: lasik=cut a flap, filp the flap over, laser the eye, flip the flap back over prk=scrap off some of the eye, then laser the entire thing is freaky, they clamp your eye open so even though your brain says blink(and one eye blinks) nothing happens,then this little blade slides.....you know what never mind, lets just say its freaky

Agreed . . . .

pigeon wrote: I'm waiting for lens implants to be perfected. Small slit in the cornea, slip in lens, voila, perfect vision. Vision changes? Swap out the lens. No lasers, no flaps, no worries about halos and other side effects. Until then my contacts will go in every morning as they have been for the last 18 years.

This is the route I went two years ago. I walked out of the office with 20-40 in an eye that was 20-550(legally blind) before. A week later, the other eye was done and that corrected to 20-20. After having to be chained to my glasses for over fifty years, I can't describe the relief and freedom I feel. I was crippled if anything happened to my glasses and had to have a spare pair in each car, the motorcycle, and with my work stuff. I chose not to get my close up vision corrected at the time($$$$), but I do just fine reading with a pair of over the counter 1.25 reading glasses(No more than $3). Since almost everyone has the beginnings of cataracts, it was considered corrective surgery and was covered by my insurance. Lasik is considered a "cosmetic" surgery and wasn't covered.

Interesting. Never realized there was another option to Lasik. I'm really considering getting this done. I've worn contacts for years -- which work well for driving and distance, but I can't read with them in. Quite frustrating, if I don't have my glasses with me, menus and newspapers are impossible. Yet, if I pull my lenses out, I can read perfectly fine.

with Lasik (and I assume w/PRK) you'll probably end up with one eye surgically / permanently fixed for reading and the other permanently fixed for distance... takes a bit of getting used to, but most folk don't notice it after a few days

Y'know, it's odd. Every time I get really frustrated with my glasses, I start thinking about one of these procedures. But when I see people talking about the specifics (which I should know if I'm going to make an informed decision), it always scares me off. OTOH, I just got my first pair of bifocals last year, and that's been kind of a PITA.

Saftey glasses are a fact of life in an industrial environment like a machine shop, or in my case, a power plant. That said, my next visit to my eye doc, lasik or the implant will be discussed. I've worn bifocals since age 13, and 45 years is plenty. I'm just tired of it. Thanks for this thread, Salanis! I appreciate it!

I've been under the knife 3 times. And even tho your eye is open once they apply the suction you can't see a thing so don't let that scare you.

If you can't do blade free then RUN!!!

I've had friends do the lens replacement (even my then 78 year old mother in law) and that's the way to go.

The biggest issue I have with Lasik or PRK is that it introduces astigmatism. Sometimes a lot and sometimes a little, but astigmatism is more of a vision impairment than poor power.

I ended up with one eye for close vision and one for far off. It sucks!! Even tho I can technically drive without glasses my eyesight is the worse it's been in my whole life. Just try to see anything in the shower.

I've been to multiple docs and they tell me that's just the way it is. I have nothing wrong with my eyesight nor did any doctor do anything wrong, it's the nature of the beast. I had "unrealistic expectations". It's hard not to expect near perfect vision when you see their ads and listen to their spiels.

Ultimately they only promise to change (there's that word again) your vision, not correct it. The only thing that matters to me is clarity of vision and I've never met a soul who's had the operation who has been totally satisfied. The worse your vision was the more you appreciate it, but I've never met a person who got what they thought they were getting. The doctors are very cagy about the language they use and the language they use on the forms you sign.

At first you are ecstatic about the surgery cause even before your eyes settle in you can see differently and you have so many hopes for the future, but soon you realize it's not ever going to be as good as you expected.

I wear glasses full time now as do over 50% of all people who have the surgery.

wbjones wrote: with Lasik (and I assume w/PRK) you'll probably end up with one eye surgically / permanently fixed for reading and the other permanently fixed for distance... takes a bit of getting used to, but most folk don't notice it after a few days

My eyes were like that naturally - one 20/100 and one 20/15. I'd considered LASIK in the past but my doctors kept telling me how great it would be in the future. Well, I finally decided I'd prefer to grow old with stereo vision instead. It does mess up your depth perception a bit to have two different eyes like that.

carguy123 wrote: The only thing that matters to me is clarity of vision and I've never met a soul who's had the operation who has been totally satisfied. The worse your vision was the more you appreciate it, but I've never met a person who got what they thought they were getting.

Well, you've never met myself or my wife in person, so I guess you can say that. I'm completely satisfied with my results, and Janel had it done about 6 years ago and is still very, very happy. No regrets either way. I had very slight astigmatism before (like most people, it wasn't enough to bother correcting) and that hasn't changed. Even my night vision is better than before. Again, we both went to an above-average surgeon for the procedure. The reports from our local guys weren't good.

Keith wrote: Again, we both went to an above-average surgeon for the procedure.

I too went to the most experienced, most well thought of in this end of the state... I had mild near sightedness and mild astigmatism prior to surgery .... no glasses now, or at least for the past 8 yrs... I now have some glasses to bring clarity to my really close work, and for long bouts of reading ...

I still have night driving problems and some depth perception problems... and still have some astigmatisms, and the distance vision is noway as good as I'd hoped for.. that said I'd probably still do it it I had it to do over.... I'd worn glasses for nearly 50 yrs... imagine my joy at the first pair of "cheap" sun glasses..

BTW I never had any night vision or starring issues.

I guess I set my sights too low. I told the doc I wanted to be able to read the clock when I got up at night, that's all I've been able to do better than prior to the surgery.

2.0dohc wrote: lasik=cut a flap, filp the flap over, laser the eye, flip the flap back over prk=scrap off some of the eye, then laser the entire thing is freaky, they clamp your eye open so even though your brain says blink(and one eye blinks) nothing happens,then this little blade slides.....you know what never mind, lets just say its freaky

As much as I hate my glasses, just reading this freaks me out. I have a terrible bluffers spasm. So bad that contacts are practically impossible. It took three of us to try to hold my eye open to get a contact in - it just wasn't happening. The only way I can imagine any sort of Lasik or PRK happening would be if they put me out.

Still... I would love to be rid of my glasses...