Well, my understanding is the procedure I had (PKR) takes longer to heal because they either dissolve or scrub the cells off the front of the eye to get at the cornea, so while those cells grow back it itches/burns and the light sensitivity is insane.

The other type of surgery involves make a small incision to access the cornea, and heals more quickly, but there's always a tiny surgical scar. The Army prefers PRK (I was told because the small scar is a concern during certain types of missions like jumping out of planes, but IDK how true that is), which takes longer to heal but leaves no scar. Actually, I have no real idea how true any of this is, but that's what I was told when I was going through the process to get the LASIK done in the Army; I didn't bother to investigate it other than that.

From people I've known who had the other procedure, the healing is much quicker and the discomfort minimal. Really the amount of discomfort I had to endure was definitely worth it, at least for me. A week of itchy/burning eyes (and this got better every day, the first two days were definitely the worst but by day 5 I was fine indoosr as long as the light wasn't too bright, by day 7 I was driving again) was worth it to ditch the glasses, IMO. I certainly didn't care that I couldn't run comfortably for a few weeks; I hated running, a profile that said I couldn't run while I recovered from eye surgery was a bonus as far as I was concerned.

If you want to shorten the healing time and you don't jump out of planes or find yourself in a desert environment, then go with the other procedure rather than PRK, I guess.

i gotta get prk in one eye. jfc, not driving for a week?

Hey, PM me (or post here obv) if you have PRK questions... I had it done a year ago.

Here is what to expect... it'll seem OK the first night until the cornea begins healing... then it'll be uncomfortable (get meds) for a few days... you'll be blurry for probably a week or so. Driving at night might take some time, since you'll have issues with headlights and seeing well.

Sorry I won't sugar coat.... the results are awesome, but the healing of PRK sucks.

i got lasik done almost three weeks ago. i see the a light halo effect but not enough where i can't drive at night or watch a movie in a theater. i'm told this will go away with time. slight dryness in my eyes, i may have to use eye drops for the rest of my life, or it may go away after a couple months.... i'm seeing at 20/15 right now so i'm pretty pleased with the results.

i basically went to the most expensive doctor with the highest reputation around (official eye doctor for the 49ers) and paid $5500. for sure i could have gotten it for a lot cheaper, but when it comes to a laser cutting open my eye i figured this isn't something i'd want to bargain hunt for. he was very good and helpful and i couldn't imagine having the procedure done anywhere else.

i took a valium before the procedure. it did not help at all, i was still nervous as **** but the doctor and his staff did their best to make me comfortable and before i knew it it was over.

Chances are it'll get a lot better.... you'll have to use drops occasionally, but not every day or anything.

Yeah, I mean, even if you are a relatively fast healer, driving in 5 days would be pretty good. Sorry if that's bad news, but with PRK the healing just takes a bit longer.

I might have driven on day 5 or 6, I can't remember exactly since it was 7 years ago, but I can't imagine it was earlier than that. The light sensitivity is a real bitch until the cells that were removed grow back. You'll see, there's really just almost no chance you could drive sooner than that, you'd never make it out of the parking lot without running into something with all the squinting and tearing you'd get from the light exposure. I had to have bring someone with me to drive me for the week I was at the hospital in Germany, but the next week I was back on regular duty - the only profile restrictions were that I could wear sunglasses whenever I wanted (for a year) and a no running profile for a couple of weeks.

For me the dry eyes weren't very bad at all, and I quit needing to use any eye drops after 3 months or so. I don't ever use eye drops now.

are sunglasses not effective, scott/sgt rj? when i had the tests done this saturday they dilated my eyes and were like "o ya go drive home", i couldn't ****ing see a thing in the parking lot, it was awful.

i'm going to be getting this **** done on Oct 20th.

they offered me a valium scrip, the girl who was offering was hot she was like "if you're gonna be nervous we can give you a perscription for valium" i was like uhhh i'm not gonna tell this smokin hottie that i'm going to be nervous "nahhh im good"

now i'm a month away and thinking about this procedure is keeping me up at night, lollllll.

Don't worry about it at all. My PRK went just about as badly as possible, and I'd gladly get it done again in a heartbeat. I won't go into details for fear of dissuading you, but it was a pretty miserable first month. I'm an outlier though, the vast majority of procedures go through without a hitch, and little discomfort.

Pay attention while you're getting it done. Just before they start the first eye, the world is it's usual blurry self. Fast forward just a few seconds, and everything is sharper and crisper than you've ever seen in your life, or will ever see it again. Kind of a surreal experience seeing through the freshly cut lens with no cornea on it. Incredibly vivid detail that you'll never experience again once your cornea returns.

Or maybe I'm just easily amused.

no i had the same experience, once the epithelial tissue was wiped away it was really clear and I was very surprised

I have been researching a lot and it seems PRK is the way to go for me. I do a lot of contact sparring and having a flap come out of my eye is scary. Downside with PRK is recovery time and pain. If you guys have to work , I would recommend doing one eye at a time.

General Tsao will probably give us a good idea of the differences between the two.

Anyways I still might have to wait for my prescription to settle first. I'm 23 and both my eyes are -5. My eyes are still getting worse but small changes

The recovery time is really not that long. I had surgery (PRK) on a Thursday and went back to work on Tuesday. I wore sunglasses for a little while and preferred to work in the darkness, but even working in front of a computer and going to well lit meetings wasn't much of a problem.

I think they prefer that your prescription has been steady for 3+ years. Minimizes the chance that they will have to do 'touch ups' or repeat surgeries. It's in your best interest to wait also.

Yeah, the world getting clearer is pretty amazing. After I sat up from my surgery, they asked if I could read the clock on the wall. Now, my vision was never really horrible, so I probably could have made out the time even before the surgery, but to look up at the clock and have it look like it was right in front of my face was pretty sweet.

Sunglasses - Yeah, I mean, they definitely worked, but for the first couple days, it didn't matter, ANY light had the potential to be blinding. YMMV, I guess, but from what I was told this was pretty common/normal. I showered without the lights on and wore my sunglasses at all times. Most indoor lighting, unless you are going into a commercial space, is pretty diffuse, though.

Opening the refrigerator was a nasty surprise. Once the cells grew back, though, it was only the brightest of lights that made me wince with sunglasses, and before too long the sunglasses made even really bright lights comfortable. A slight increase in my light sensitivity is the only real long term impact of my surgery, so I take my sunglasses with me pretty much everywhere.

And while there is some pain (actually more of an itchy/burning sensation), to me it was well worth the trade off. The pain isn't significantly worse from any other semi-major injury - maybe the equivalent of a moderate sprain, and it gets better pretty quickly. Which isn't to say that the first 48 hours post surgery aren't a major drag, but it seems like a pretty decent trade off all the same. A few days of discomfort for years of being able to ditch glasses/contacts. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

oct 17th; 2:00 pm, it's set!!

the day i lose $4,000, and possibly my vision!

gl

when i set up my appointment with her today I was like

"remember how I said i didn't need the valium? when i got home i read all the liability-releasing forms I have to sign and now i definitely need it"

she was like 'lolol np we'll call it in"