PRK Laser Corrective Surgery

Six minutes after I first met my surgeon he was removing the epithelial layer of my eye. As what I can only describe as a drill descended towards my cornea, I couldn't help but think about the multitude of disclaimers, both pre and post op procedures, and my coworkers suggestion to go "one eye at a time".

Despite the numerous eye dilations, the dry eyes, the nerves and cost, my experience with PRK was amazing. There was virtually no pain during the procedure and the despite minor complications my recovery was almost pleasant.

Four weeks ago, after a couple weeks of pre-op appointments I had PRK laser eye surgery to correct my astigmatism and near-sightedness. PRK is similar to LASIK only the reshaping of the eye to focus light occurs on the outside of the eye as opposed to under a flap.

My Optometrist told me that LASIK is so popular because it gives people the instant gratification Americans seek. With LASIK, your vision is clear almost immediately and the recovery time is very short.

While the results of PRK are about the same, (my Ophthalmologist told me there is an argument that PRK will create better vision- of course he probably says the opposite to the LASIK patients) the recovery time is much longer.

As most people who about to get PRK do, I searched the internet to read about the experiences of a few. Willingly allowing someone to scrape off some of your eye and shoot lasers in it deserves more than just a googling...but it can't hurt.

Once I had been prepped for surgery, adjusted in the chair, had my eye locked open with a ring and my eye "sucked" up (its the only way to describe it), I was asked to look directly at the light in the laser. I did. Or at least I thought I did. When the surgeon said "I don't think you're quite looking at it" I got a bit nervous. I've been using my eyes for not too short of 30 years and I have a pretty good idea of when I'm looking at something. After being instructed to look slightly left of where I was looking I got very nervous about where I was supposed to look. Should I look right at the light or just to the left of the light where the surgeon half-way suggested? After what seemed like a half a second but in reality was more like ten, I sort of went with in between the two. As the ticking of the laser machine began I became very nervous that I was doing something wrong. It was too late for questions so I just focused all my energy on keeping my stare as still as a robot's until the laser stopped.

One down one to go.

After the surgeon rinsed the residue out of my eye I could tell that my vision was pretty clear. Not crystal clear, but much clearer than I can remember. The feeling was reassuring. I thought to myself "at least you'll have vision in your right eye!"

The procedure for the left was much the same only no issues with the direction of the light. About ten seconds after the laser began ticking I heard one of the surgical tech staff say "procedure stop" followed by what seemed like a sort of sigh from the surgeon. I'm convinced my eye jumped at the fear of "procedure stopping" but after a split second of confusion my eye was right back to the light. Apparently I heard something wrong. The procedure continued and concluded about 20 seconds later.

I was ushered into a post-op chair where I saw the optometrist. Dr. Hayes was very reassuring, provided me with some eye drops and said things looked good.

For the next few days I really milked it. I got meals cooked for me, laundry done - the whole nine yards. The evening of my surgery I did have a scare; one of my protective contact lenses fell out. I talked to the surgeon on the phone and he told me to just keep the eye closed. I had an appointment at 7:45 the next morning but it's HARD to keep one eye closed for 14 hours.

My vision slowly improved, however, after three days I was scared. I could see hints of clarity but the crispness just wasn't there. I had read about how vision continued to get better after surgery. I felt as though I could get glimpses of where my vision would be and it was not great. It was a difficult few days. I knew I was one of the less than 1% of people that have significant issues.

By day four I was cleared to drive. It was great to drive without glasses but my vision was still at a point (20/40 at best in both eyes) where I felt like I shouldn't be driving.

My vision continued to get better. Still not great but I was getting to a point where I though that if it stopped improving I could still lead a happy life.

Then dumbass me was drinking with some friends at a work conference.

I should point out that the Doctor I saw in Battle Creek (near where my conference was) told me a couple drinks would be ok. What wasn't ok was me agreeing to play "belly-busters". That is the game where you run towards someone, jump in the air and bump stomachs.

I'm not a big guy and the guy who "belly BUSTED" me has some weight and height on me.

BOOM

Down goes Ryan.

Another friend told me I was bleeding from my eye. This is not what I wanted to here. I had a small cut over my right eye but I felt fine. I went to bed not worrying too much.

I awoke the next day and noticed that the vision in my right eye was significantly diminished from the previous day. After freaking out for a few hours I made an emergency appointment with my Doctor.

It turns out everything was just fine.

So, four weeks after surgery my vision is a touch better than 20/20 in my right eye and not quite 20/20 in my left.

My surgery was not cheap, $3,900 at the TLC eye center in Ann Arbor. My surgeon, Dr. Sensoli was great. My Optometrist, Dr. Hayes has been the most encouraging, friendly Doc I've ever had. I have to be careful about what I saw or the man crush accusations come out.

For those of you who are about to have or just had PRK surgery and are concerned about the surgery - it's not bad as long as you go to a reputable place.

I had virtually NO pain during recovery. As Dr. Hayes told me, with PRK you have to EARN your vision, it takes time and will test your nerves but the benefit is amazing. Waiting and hoping for your eyesight to get better is a rough experience. Trust in your surgeon and prepare for a life without glasses!