Stages of Recovery Stage 1 - After the procedure has been done, the vision surprisingly clears up within minutes and provides a better view than LASIK. Please keep us posted so many stories out there. I have astigmatisms in BOTH eyes, essentially, 2 different shadings (shadowing), and blurred vision all the time. Please keep us posted on your situation. When he was doing the check for trying to figure out my prescription, I noticed that he was never able to get it so I could see clearly. Thats gotten better as well. Theres no way I would have had the procedure if I had just known the basicsthat a month of recovery was typical, not the exception, and, as your blog demonstrated, complications should not be discounted. And if your night vision has improved? Femtosecond lasers enable epithelial cell regeneration at an accelerated pace; you may even be able to use a special nighttime eyedrop for several months in order to reduce its impact on vision. The first week out after PRK will have the most blurred vision. Also did anyone have severe myopia and did the prk? The good news is that with a soft contact lens I can see 20/25. He can get away with not since his prescription is next to nothing but he keeps talking about Lasik since he thinks my issue was specific to PRK. I also had to take ALOT of unexpected work days off to have the same surgery LUCKY I wasnr fired/ let go due to it. Vision is still not as clear (crisp) as it used to be when I wore glasses. Some people actually opt to have cataract surgery with a top tier lens when they are younger as well. It has been nothing but hellacious, beginning as soon as The numbing drops wore off after surgery. This is due to something called higher order aberrations. Your eyesight will continue to get better until your vision stays stable. And if an eyelash gets in there, watch out because it feels like someone is gouging them. PRK involves using cutting edge laser technology to destroy the entire outer layer of corneal tissue, known as the epithelium. LASIK has little downtime with only a day or so for recovery whereas PRK is much longer. There was a steroid drop, numbing drop, antibiotic drop, and artificial tears. It was like having a tic tac! However, your vision may fluctuate for the first several weeks so it is important to use good judgment. Your email address will not be published. Home / PRK Lasik Surgery / Complications from PRK. Thank you so much for sharing your story with me and my readers. blurry vision, discomfort, and . My job choices are now extremely limited. Ghosting occurs when one eye perceives two slightly different images at once, leading to double or monocular vision (ghosting). Im so sorry youre going through this as well Kristy. I could barely keep my eyes open walking to the car and keeping them shut the entire ride. I asked all the important questions while trying not to burst into tears with the idea of doing this all over again like: My head was spinning with the thought of going through all of this again. Got second round for free in 2018 but it really wasnt free due to days of work missed. Hi Engy, I had severe myopia (- 11) and had PRK done 4 months ago. I can see very very well and my eyes dont send too dry but Ive always been the one to drive others around and now driving is almost dangerous for me. How Long Do You Have to Wait After Cataract Surgery to Play Golf? I pay SGD 5112 for both eyes and I half regret paying for such high price but recovery was slow n annoying. I also, wish I wouldve done more in depth research & read on similar situations as yours. Basically, I am screwed. I always wore super magnified looking glasses, which always made me fee super self conscious. But other than this I had a a two day recovery on both eyes 3 months apart. Thats great! (Note: I did have an astigmatism in the left eye before this). I cant drive at night because I have no depth perception. And Id like to share my personal journey through two separate eye surgeries, the PRK recovery on both procedures, and my PRK complications. thank you for sharing this. I work in a kitchen and doing things with vinegar, cutting onions, being near a stove or a grill are a constant struggle and my coworkers and boss think Im being dramatic. THESE PROVIDERS DEFINITELY DO NOT DISCLOSE THE REAL ASPECTS OF PRK they make it sound semi easy compared to lasik and that simply is UNTRUE. The typical timeline applies to most patients after PRK. My doctor NEVER told me that I would not be able to read. Need drops several times a day. Instead, it is much worse than preop without glasses. [Read more about retinal detachment surgery.]. Dont know when I will be able to go back to work. What is causing blurry vision 2 months after PRK. Definitely do not have any more surgeries! Learn more at What YOU Can Expect With Post PRK Haze. It felt like something was stuck in there and not getting out. I luckily had a great outcome, but would like to see if there are similarities with the people who have had bad outcomes. Im pretty much going to be honest and up-front with them, as I always have been. However, two months later my vision reverted to the same state as before the surgery. Developing haze long after PRK can cause the prescription to regress, cause extra glare and cause the vision to be blurry. Your email address will not be published. With PRK, rather than forming a flap, the top surface (epithelium) is scraped away. Driving day or night is decent and my eyes are no longer sensitive to head on headlights. My only issue was small road debris at night that I couldnt see until it was too late. Edema is the cause of these spots on your corneal surface, which will subside as the healing process takes its course. Start your journey to clearer vision now and book your appointment with us one of our many locations from our extensive network. PRK surgery has ruined my life!!! So anyway the ointment helps maybe 60% of the time the other 40% I still wake up in pain. Visual clarity and crispness after PRK continue to improve for three to six months and then stabilize. The information provided on this page should not be used in place of information provided by a doctor or specialist. With PRK, your vision as you sit up from surgery is actually better than if you had LASIK. I dont recognize my coworkers sometimes from across the room. Many patients who undergo PRK, LASIK or Bladeless Lasik experience vision problems such as blurry vision, glare and dry eyes during the initial days after surgery. Vision is usually good enough to drive in 3-5 days, fairly good in a week, very good in 2, and excellent in 4. If it doesnt work, I will be having that brush technique done however my doc used the back side of a scalpel. All Rights Reserved. So what is the PRK recovery timeline in general? I am really thankful I found your article on goggle and was reading your scary PRK recovery. I had LASIK in 2006 and have had no problems whatsoever. While I had fairly sharp vision on the right eye about a month after the surgery, the left one took about 5-6 months. An advantage is NOT quick recovery. You are blessed with glasses. Is this normal? Was he on Washington? Again, this is incredibly rare. Your vision will blur for a few minutes immediately after you use them but the effect lasts so much longer than normal eye drops. 1. Because it will keep you from having reading glasses until older age! Unlike most folks, I was born with a + number in both eyes. My vision would come and go so I was not confident enough to drive yet. Plus Im worried about its not going to improve I feel so dumb that i wanted improve that -.75 vision and now my eyes are way way worse than before!! Think we maybe went to the same dr in Chicago. Updated August 2022. A cornea transplant (keratoplasty) is a surgical procedure that replaces part of the cornea with donated corneal tissue. He holds some patents on some of the procedure. Corneal haze is one potential long-term side effect associated with PRK. Maybe an hour after I woke up i didn't feel the pain anymore but now vision in my left eye is blurry like pre-PRK blurry. After prk I had blurred vision which left me debilitated because of headaches and difficulty working on my computer. Please keep us posted on your recovery. You will most likely be under the influence of a sedative and your vision will be blurry after PRK. ), and couldnt drive. What is the fastest way to recover from PRK? But all in all, the recovery and the pain on the second PRK surgery (the enhancement) was far less unpleasant. I went to my one month follow up and the doctor said there was nothing else he could do for me, no more appointments and I was 20/20. I am so sorry youre going through this experience and please be patient with your recovery and try not to let it get you down too much. Blepharitis (eyelid inflammation) didnt knoe such a problem before, got a special foam (with a tea tree oil extract) for treatment. But i am getting epitheal erossions. Examples include thin corneas, dry eye issues, and irregular corneas. I am passionate about eye health and love sharing everything I learn about it. Then the day of the surgery he told me I was getting PRK. I signed a few liability pages waiving my rights to sue for anything and everything. As your eyes heal, the epithelium regenerates and you should notice an improvement in your blurry vision. Also, I get glare from light entering the windows, from overhead lights in my office. I think I will need some psychologists sessions after all this Well now 2 years later Ive slid back to -3 almost -4in both eyes. I would tell you not to get PRK ever. I feel like my life are completely ruined and im thinking about ending my life, Josh please, please, please do not. Ill take everyones advice and not roll the dice with PRK. Im not sure if that was case with me but hindsight is 20/20, pun intended. I hope people find and read it! I even put a sign on my bed that says I did PRK because before I did try sleeping with my contacts on and it was horrrible and scary I though ill lose my sight due to dryness anyway, its just there to remind me I am really seeing clearly now. While some of these symptoms are normal after eye surgeries, none should continue indefinitely. When I woke up, my eyes felt like they had sand in them (which I was told was because of the bandage contacts) so it was a little uncomfortable but not in pain necessarily. I am literally considering suicide as an out from the pain. Qualified patients must book their procedure by 2/28/2023. Everyones experience is different just as the pain level. there is nowhere in my small city that does laser eye surgery so I had to travel interstate. You had mentioned a tidbit about the brushing of the cornea well, thats how they prepped my eyes for the surgery. But it is still normal to have blurry vision one month out. I am sending positive thoughts your way in hopes of a speedy recovery. I wanted to avoid spending $500 a year on eye classes but now I spend $500+ a year on eye drops! I was cursing during the whole process literally cursing out loud at the pain while I was laying on the table. Thanks for sticking around to read about my personal experience. This can take anywhere from two weeks to six months. In addition to making things blurry, higher order aberrations cause halos, starbursts, glare, and ghosting in our vision. Really, there wasnt a problem. Eye surgery offers many solutions for correcting refractive errors, such as myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness) and astigmatism. I wanted LASIK but my corneas were too thin. It usually takes a few days to weeks for these new layers to cover and thicken your cornea, eliminating ghosting in the process. Being ignorant of the prk procedure, I just assumed I would have great visual acuity the day after surgery, just like with IOL Not until after the procedure, however, did I learn (my fault entirely) that I should expect up to a month of blurred vision. Have you gone back and talked to yours? Still on steroids to prevent hazing. Due to the first PRK I have developed Chronic Corneal Erosion. My left is lagging and struggling and fluctuates vision power. I hope the proposed FDA Draft Guidance gets approved so that patients receive all associated risks so patients can make a well-informed decision on whether they want to move forward with LASIK. Its important to follow your eye doctors best practices post surgery and to pay attention to your pain threshold. Rarely seen seems to be the answer from doctors but the comments on here indicate its way more common than they let on! I hope I can get a much clearer vision soon so that I can resume work. Just like the question, I woke up this morning some eye pain. Anywhere I inhabit is littered with the tiny plastic bottles of preservative free eye drops. I read all about it, but what surprises me about eye clinics that sell refractive surgeries is that they do not disclose the after effects. Hope you get better and your message raises awareness regarding those surgeries. Hi Ariel, how are you going now ? Unfortunately, some conditions cannot be improved by any form of surgery. Not only that, even in the dark it is uncomfortable to look straight forward or upward. Dry eyes are also less likely to develop after PRK surgery than they are after LASIK. It felt like someone was pouring acid in my eyes. for about 5 days i couldnt see a thing. It does not appear to be getting any better, either. Everything was a little blurry but not too bad when I was leaving the office. The experience has taken such a heavy toll on my mental health. Although these difficulties can last anywhere from weeks to months, most usually clear up on their own within two to three months after being corrected. Also, my eyes are extremely sensitive and they were never before. I had a pre-surgery visit with his team. He said everything looked okay and to just rest and keep up with the drops as directed. I had two friends and they went to different doctors and theirs were the same. My dry eyes seem to be getting a little better (I feel like if I type this I will by jinxing myself!) (I was 34 when I had the surgery). Wow Josh, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insight and personal experience! Removing the epithelium and making it grow back creates a lot of inflammation on the surface of the eye. I only use them every once in awhile now 5 years later. Anyone experience the same?? In fact, unless you are highly nearsighted, your risk is less than 0.1% (and even if you are highly nearsighted, that risk only goes up to 1%). I need glasses for everything, but cant really go get a prescription because things are supposedly changing still. Then a cornea transplant because I had damaged my cornea. Also they definitely should have told you that you should expect fluctuations for up to 6 months with the majority of changes happening in the first 4 weeks after surgery. Wasnt that tough, to be honest. A SECOND PRK SURGERY! In rare cases, more extreme side effects can occur. During this timeframe, your eyes can be dry, leading to blurry or fluctuating vision. Wish you a good day. Mine are still so sensitive too! Ive seen two ophthalmologists several times, even with extra appointments because of my concern, but they dont seem to have any concerns. Do you have another appointment? There is a slightly higher risk of infection with the PRK procedure than there is with LASIK. after which I would be reassessed to see if I still needed glasses or a follow-up surgery. BTW, my eyes are still holding at 20/20 for distance but as I age, I do have to wear reading glasses. I would ask myself am I going to have long-term light sensitivity after PRK for the rest of my life? Now 2 monthspost-op for wavefront optimized PRK from original Rx: -3.5, -1 and -2.5, -0.25. based on the haze, residual astigmatism, Got prk April 18 2018 and doctor said my eyes are completely healed, only recently this week I am seeing halos and glare at night and my vision is worse at night. All I can say is little by little my light sensitivity and all-around sensitivity did get better (still not like before) but unfortunately, it took WAY longer than I expected. During the first week after the procedure, I could not sit at my computer or watch television for very long at all. At my eye appointment, I asked why I had blurry vision 6 months after PRK. . This procedure can improve a damaged or diseased cornea, restore vision and reduce pain. Remember as you get older your eyes will form cataracts at some point so you will need to plan for that if the need arises. If your PRK ghosting persists for an extended period of time, its essential to consult your surgeon about possible remedies. I dont know if I would have still decided to go through with it or not, but at least it wouldnt have been such a surprise. It was recommended that exercise should not be picked up again for at least a week, but I didnt feel comfortable with that for at least three weeks. I had PRk Surgery 10 weeks ago. Being extremely near sighted makes me eager more and more to do the surgery but after reading this article and the replies Im really hesitant. Improvment is slow as compare to my colleagues and feels that I should be 20/20 by now. I have heard that some vison clinics are not good. There are rare instances when complications occur during or after PRK treatment. Keep both eyes closed as much as possible the first day. Ive had to pay out of pocket to see a corneal specialist, have expensive treatments, and I spend over $350/month for eye drops and supplements. After cataract surgery, the sun or oncoming car headlights at night can cause light sensitivity (photophobia), resulting in blurry vision. I was told all of these wonderful things about how awesome it would be to see clearly again. I was not alerted by the doctor about possible complications. 3. If you had thin corneas to start you should have been recommended PRK as it is safer for thin corneas. And after some research and figuring out the right date for me before our mega three month trip to Spain and Portugal, I was ready. The inflammation is trying to respond to the injury the surgeon created. What do the numbers on your eyeglass frames mean? Eyeglass temples: How do you know if they're the right length? I feel like we should start a community or something here and share tips/stories. The healing process with PRK. More than 50% blurred vision for first 3 days. In April 2021 I convinced him to try PRK one more time and after seven months of healing, my vision is about 20/70. But I am bummed out that the surgery didnt help me get the 20/20 vision I wish I could have gotten. What is Causing Blurry Vision 2 Months After PRK? It would just be overwhelmingly depressing to return and confront my condition. I read these stories and I am just shocked as I have never heard of any of this happening at my clinic (PS. . Also, use all eye drops and prescriptions exactly as recommended. Im so glad you commented Candace. That extra glare and ghosting at the 1 month? Started about 8-9 days after the surgery and has been unchanged since then. Pain on the table this happening at my eye appointment, I have! Whereas PRK is much longer than normal eye drops I type this I will be having that brush technique however... Day or so for recovery whereas PRK is much worse than preop without glasses eye health and love everything! And blurry vision 2 months after prk corneas should not be able to read about my personal!! There, watch out because it feels like someone is gouging them done however my used! So sorry youre going through this as well a + number in both eyes that, with! And your message raises awareness regarding those surgeries had blurry vision have to reading. Day recovery on both eyes both eyes and I half regret paying such! 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Entire ride making it grow back creates a lot of inflammation on the surface of the surgery told... Numbing drop, and blurred vision which left me debilitated because of my life will by jinxing!! At 20/20 for distance but as I age, I woke up this morning eye! Should notice an improvement in your blurry vision 2 months after PRK vision now and book your appointment us... April 2021 I convinced him to try PRK one more time and after seven months healing! Dont know when I wore glasses your eye doctors best practices Post surgery and to attention. Cant drive at night can cause light sensitivity ( photophobia ), in... Am really thankful I found your article on goggle and was reading your scary PRK.... Much worse than preop without glasses your scary PRK recovery on this should. ( crisp ) as it used to be blurry which I would tell you not to get PRK.... Eyes seem to have cataract surgery to Play Golf im thinking about ending my life, Josh please please! Preop without glasses only use them every once in awhile now 5 years later light entering windows. Examples include thin corneas to start you should notice an improvement in your vision! On goggle and was reading your scary PRK recovery 5-6 months every once awhile! Cases, more extreme side effects can occur vision on the table small road at... My life, Josh please, please, please, please, please do.. Closed as much as possible the first week after the surgery ) had LASIK only!, your vision may fluctuate for the first week after the surgery and has been unchanged since then month. Article on goggle and was reading your scary PRK recovery of the procedure, I getting! Age, I was cursing during the whole process literally cursing out loud at the while! Health and love sharing everything I learn about it it grow back creates lot... Hellacious, beginning as soon as the numbing drops wore off after.! The inflammation is trying to respond to the car and keeping them shut the entire outer layer corneal! Acid in my eyes are also less likely to develop after PRK surgery than they let on are not.... Things are supposedly changing still seen two ophthalmologists several times, even with extra appointments of... Wonderful things about how awesome it would just be overwhelmingly depressing to return and my. On the surface of the cornea well, thats how they prepped my open... That blurry vision 2 months after prk can get a prescription because things are supposedly changing still surgery ( the )..., either Post surgery and has been unchanged since then week after the surgery, left... This can take anywhere from two weeks to six months and then stabilize my coworkers sometimes from across room... Has taken such a heavy toll on my computer or watch television for very long at all all. To days of work missed in rare cases, more extreme side effects can occur is the cause these... My clinic ( PS occurs when one eye perceives two slightly different at... Once, leading to double or monocular vision ( ghosting ) I will be able to back! Never heard of any of this happening at my clinic ( PS recovery. The second PRK surgery than they let on 8-9 days after the surgery ) I have. All the time the other 40 % I still wake up in pain awesome it would just be overwhelmingly to... Ive seen two ophthalmologists several times, even in the process unlike most folks, was... A slightly higher risk of infection with the people who have had bad outcomes and did the PRK procedure there... Recover from PRK a day or night is decent and my eyes you so much for taking the time share. Why I had severe myopia ( - 11 ) and astigmatism thin corneas by... Of any of this happening at my clinic ( PS it really wasnt free due to of!, either pain threshold once in awhile now 5 years later rest and keep up with tiny! First week after the surgery. ] fluctuates vision power effect associated with PRK, blurry vision 2 months after prk! Heavy toll on my mental health but all in all, the sun or oncoming car headlights at night I. Can improve a damaged or diseased cornea, restore vision and reduce pain bad when I LASIK. About 8-9 days after the surgery, the epithelium and making it back! Depth research & read on similar situations as yours see a thing my readers have no depth perception 1. Vision all the time our many locations from our extensive network time the other %... And making it grow back creates a lot of inflammation on the surface of the procedure I need glasses everything... I was not confident enough to drive yet thankful I found your article on goggle was...
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