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Old 10-27-2016, 08:13 AM   #1
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PRK laser eye correction : my experience

As some of you know and some of you don't I had PRK (photorefractive keratectomy) laser vision correction on Monday. I figured I would give you all a run down of it all and each day of recovery

Let me start by saying, you get a free consultation to make sure you are eligible, you can't wear contacts 15 days before that, then 15 days before the surgery so I spent the past month of my life wearing glasses and being miserable (reinforcing why I wanted the surgery)

PRK V. LASIK, PRK they scrape and discard the top layer of cells over over your cornea, then zap the eye. LASIK they cut a flap , zap the eye than place the flap back on. I was eligible for both but because of my career (mechanic) hobbies (drag racing, jet skiing,etc and having astigmatism, the doctor said that PRK was much safer. If you have LASIK and get hit in the face or get metal in your eye you run the risk of having flap dislodgment because the flap is never as strong as it was before it was removed. All police, fighters and military get PRK.

LASiK recovery is a day or two. PRK is a week or more, sometimes months before your vision stabilizes to 20/10 -15

PRK cost was 4900, LASIK cost was 5900. no insurance covers it with the exception of active military to my understanding

I was nervous, very nervous, about the actual surgery process which turned out to be not bad at all.

Day 1- Get to the surgery center, they re-examine your eyes, they start giving you numbing drops an hour before, I took a small amount of valium to prevent any anxiety attacks from occurring. fill out some papers, everyone is really nice, you have the surgery in plain clothes, sweat pants, a t shirt, jordans lol makes it a relaxed atmosphere.

Actual surgery procedure was 15 mins, my mom was able to watch thru a window and on a tv screen. you feel no pain at all during the surgery.

meds- you put tons of eye drops in 4 times a day, take advils for pain, tons of refresh plus moisture drops)



day 1 recovery. you go home immediatly. wear sunglasses, they tell u to sleep which is impossible because I was all wound up. your eyes hurt, your vision is iffy. go to bed early

day 2-right eye was clear left eye was blurry, some pain, you have follow up post op appointment. they tell you to watch tv , computer, phone if you feel comfortable. as day 2 goes thru i started getting more pain and light sensitiveness and you are able to keep your eyes open less. Sleeping sucked was in pain took advils all night

day 3-left eye was clearer than right eye and pain was bad, like regretting doing the surgery bad, couldnt keep eyes open at all, pretty much had my mom lead me around all day. tv on in background couldnt watch ****.

day 4- I just woke up, put my eye drops in, i can see out left eye right eye is blurry, pain is almost gone, i am able to use computer (obviously im writing this) but blurry. TV can be watched. bored and stir crazy. its dark and rainy out im still wearing sunglasses in the house with minimal lights on

its obvious that the eyes are healing, and I am starting to feel better.

will keep you all posted on days going forward.

also let me say that my DR - Dr. Gershenbaum (sp) at freehold eye was a great doctor. I highly recommend him, he knows exactly what he is doing and is very friendly and down to earth. Since you dont want to play games with your eyes, feeling comfortable and trusting your surgeon is def importnant ! 1
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Old 10-27-2016, 08:21 AM   #2
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I had it done 15yrs ago (maybe more?). Best thing I ever did. My left eye has lost some quality of vision. My only complaints were I need sunglasses all the time (sensitive) and night vision is not crisp.
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Old 10-27-2016, 08:39 AM   #3
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Sounds like you are well on the recovery path. This is something I will eventually get around to doing. I don't love contacts and despise wearing glasses. The recovery sounds pretty annoying but I can't see a way around that unless they put me into an induced coma.

Keep us posted on the progress.
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Old 10-27-2016, 08:48 AM   #4
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I had it done 15yrs ago (maybe more?). Best thing I ever did. My left eye has lost some quality of vision. My only complaints were I need sunglasses all the time (sensitive) and night vision is not crisp.
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Sounds like you are well on the recovery path. This is something I will eventually get around to doing. I don't love contacts and despise wearing glasses. The recovery sounds pretty annoying but I can't see a way around that unless they put me into an induced coma.

Keep us posted on the progress.
I'll be honest my boss got it done 19 years ago and he can still see perfect.

He was a big convincer for this surgery. All the research I did , even the doctor told me the first week i would be like Fk them all lol after that ur like this is the best thing ever!
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Old 10-27-2016, 09:44 AM   #5
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Very cool. That isn't a bad price at all either. I have thought about this but always thought it was out of reach financially. Let us know how recovery goes. That would be the toughest part for me. Don't know how I could miss that much work.
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Old 10-27-2016, 09:57 AM   #6
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Procedure may be a bit different than I had. My eyes were blurry the first day. 2nd day I could see, 3rd day I went deer hunting. I remember being told not to swim for 30 days and not lift anything heavy for about the same time. I went work right after (mechanic).
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Old 10-27-2016, 12:00 PM   #7
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Procedure may be a bit different than I had. My eyes were blurry the first day. 2nd day I could see, 3rd day I went deer hunting. I remember being told not to swim for 30 days and not lift anything heavy for about the same time. I went work right after (mechanic).
that sounds more like lasik , theres also LASEK, implants, EPI-LASIK and a whole bunch of others lol i did tons of research on this because its my eyes lol
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Old 10-27-2016, 01:30 PM   #8
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I also had prk done about 2 years ago. I must have been lucky because I didn't have any pain but as said it was the best thing I could have done for myself. I recommend it to anyone on the fence, its one of those things that after you do it, you'd wished you would have done it sooner.
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Old 10-27-2016, 02:18 PM   #9
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For the past few weeks I've been really thinking about it. Not really sure where to begin though. I tried when i was active duty army but i didn't have enough time left for them to even do a consultation.
I am just fed up with glasses and could never deal with contacts. I have astigmatism so not sure which type would be needed and how bad the process can correct.
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Old 10-27-2016, 03:04 PM   #10
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V, I had astigmatism in both eyes and my uncorrected vision was 20/200 (I wore contacts to correct this). The doctor I used recommended prk as its healthier for your eyes as it was explained. Now, after I was all healed up my vision is now 20/17.....yes, better than 20/20. I came to find out that perfect vision really isn't 20/20 but actually 20/15. I can't say enough good words about the doctor I used. His name is Dr. Mark Speaker and he is the head guy at TLC eye care in midtown manhattan. The procedure cost me $5K but it comes with free touch ups for life.......meaning when my eye sight naturally gets worse in 20 years I can go back and have the procedure done again for free. They do free consultations so it won't cost anything but your time to see if your eligible. If you want more info, shoot me a pm.
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Old 10-27-2016, 05:56 PM   #11
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V, I had astigmatism in both eyes and my uncorrected vision was 20/200 (I wore contacts to correct this). The doctor I used recommended prk as its healthier for your eyes as it was explained. Now, after I was all healed up my vision is now 20/17.....yes, better than 20/20. I came to find out that perfect vision really isn't 20/20 but actually 20/15. I can't say enough good words about the doctor I used. His name is Dr. Mark Speaker and he is the head guy at TLC eye care in midtown manhattan. The procedure cost me $5K but it comes with free touch ups for life.......meaning when my eye sight naturally gets worse in 20 years I can go back and have the procedure done again for free. They do free consultations so it won't cost anything but your time to see if your eligible. If you want more info, shoot me a pm.
Wow, that is pretty awesome with the free touch ups! How long ago did you get it done?
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Old 10-27-2016, 06:06 PM   #12
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Jan 2014, but one of my friends just went to him 2 months ago and had the same procedure done.
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Old 10-27-2016, 06:07 PM   #13
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Also for those that don't want to lay out 5k up front, they offer 2yrs no interest financing.
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Old 10-28-2016, 06:21 AM   #14
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Day 5 : my seeing eye dog is writing this update for me lol... just playin .

the pain has subsided much like on day 4 , left eye is pretty clear right eye is still fuzzy, simple reason being each eye heals at a different pace and this is completely normal. it is annoying as hell but at least i can keep my eyes open and watch tv, use the laptop etc; to make time pass. overall I think that I can say that the pain and suffering the first 3-4 days will be worth the end result. I still wake up looking for my glasses lol
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Old 10-28-2016, 06:23 AM   #15
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and yes almost all the surgeons offer 0% financing. it is called care credit I believe.
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Old 10-28-2016, 06:25 AM   #16
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Jan 2014, but one of my friends just went to him 2 months ago and had the same procedure done.
And about how long did it take for you to heal/get your vision back? How was post-surgery? Any cons/regrets/opinions/etc? I'm interested
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Old 10-28-2016, 06:57 AM   #17
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And about how long did it take for you to heal/get your vision back? How was post-surgery? Any cons/regrets/opinions/etc? I'm interested
you might be eligible for LASIK, in which the recovery time is like 1-2 days.

depends on your eyes, hobbies (risk of getting hit in the eyes) , job (risk of getting hit in the eyes)
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Old 10-28-2016, 08:37 AM   #18
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I get **** in my eyes daily
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Old 10-28-2016, 09:35 AM   #19
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I get **** in my eyes daily
yaaa gonna prob b PRK for u too lolol
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Old 10-28-2016, 10:07 AM   #20
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I was very lucky, I didn't have any pain at all and didn't have to take anything but the eye drops. My vision was good but a little fuzzy for the first 3 days and cleared up by day 4. From day 4 on for the next month or 2 my vision just got sharper. With prk, after the surgery you have to wear a hard contact for 5 days......this is where the majority of the pain comes in for most people. Since I wore contacts, I think I was used to it so it didn't bother me. The only thing that took a bit to go away was while driving at night, streetlights looked like star bursts. This probably lasted a month but didn't effect my night driving at all.....just looked a little wierd. My only regret is not doing it sooner. I was 32 when I did it, I wish I would have done it in my 20's. For me, prk was a no brainer. I hated the idea of someone cutting a flap on my eye so lasik was out. I honestly could have gone back to work the next day but took the week off just in case. I can't say enough good things about the surgery.

6spd, enjoy your new found vision. Over the next month you won't believe how much sharper it's going to get.
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Old 10-28-2016, 10:17 AM   #21
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I was very lucky, I didn't have any pain at all and didn't have to take anything but the eye drops. My vision was good but a little fuzzy for the first 3 days and cleared up by day 4. From day 4 on for the next month or 2 my vision just got sharper. With prk, after the surgery you have to wear a hard contact for 5 days......this is where the majority of the pain comes in for most people. Since I wore contacts, I think I was used to it so it didn't bother me. The only thing that took a bit to go away was while driving at night, streetlights looked like star bursts. This probably lasted a month but didn't effect my night driving at all.....just looked a little wierd. My only regret is not doing it sooner. I was 32 when I did it, I wish I would have done it in my 20's. For me, prk was a no brainer. I hated the idea of someone cutting a flap on my eye so lasik was out. I honestly could have gone back to work the next day but took the week off just in case. I can't say enough good things about the surgery.

6spd, enjoy your new found vision. Over the next month you won't believe how much sharper it's going to get.
well my right eye is mad fuzzy lol if it was how my left eye is right now i would be good ! today is day 5 so its a waiting game ! lol

I just went outside to move my truck in the driveway and to be honest i could drive but it would be uncomfortable... people are legally allowed to drive when they are blind in 1 eye lol same thing
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Old 10-28-2016, 03:23 PM   #22
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I had flap-type lasik done 10+ years ago by an actual corea specialist. It wasn't cheap but neither are my eyes!

The healing time was much faster than what you're posting. FWIW: I'm a firefighter, the specialist knew this, and never brought up PRK.
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Old 10-29-2016, 02:04 PM   #23
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Day 6 -
Can go out in public lol and the sun light isnt really bothering me but im wearing sunglasses anyway.

My right eye is still blurry but it is better than yesterday. Obviously my right eye is going to heal slower than my left at this point. Monday night is the last day of all the drops after that its just refresh perservative free drops. I have my follow-up appointment Nov 8. At that point they will remove the bandage contacts and check the progress of the healing again.

I can drive during the day, at night would prob still be sketchy at this point.
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Old 10-30-2016, 09:25 AM   #24
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today is day 6 , actually i think i shouldnt have counted the surgery day as day 1...
but whatever

I can see left eye still right eye is blurry/hazy but I am starting to think that it is the bandage contact causing that.

but i could be wrong. my post op # 2 appt isnt until tues nov 8 which is 9 days from today, so I think if I am still blurry tomorrow I Am going to give them a call and see what they say better safe then sorry but I do not think that anything is wrong I just think that one eye is healing faster than the other.
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Old 11-01-2016, 08:31 PM   #25
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Day 8- (1 week and 1 day from surgery day)

my vision is almost back to normal, no pain, no more eye drop anti biotics or anything , just been using re-wetting drops. my 2nd post op is next tues.
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