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Photorefractive keratectomy eye surgery, or PRK for short, was the most common type of refractive laser eye surgery before the development of LASIK some years later. Both surgeries have the same goal in mind -- reshaping the cornea in a way that corrects for common vision problems such as nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism. Like LASIK, PRK surgery has a high success rate, and most patients are able to give up their glasses or contacts once the post-operative healing process is complete.
Unlike LASIK surgery, no corneal flap is created during the PRK procedure. In PRK, the surgery is performed by a trained surgeon using an excimer laser directly on the surface of the eye. This type of laser uses a cool ultraviolet light beam to remove, or "ablate" small pieces of tissue from the cornea of the eye, which reshapes it according to the type of vision correction required. The cornea is like a camera lens that uses shaped glass to focus light on a target. And by reshaping the cornea and achieving a sharper focus on the eye's retina, clearer vision is the result.
Typically patients don't feel any pain during PRK surgery. Special eye drops are given to the patient to anesthetize the eyes before the procedure. The surgery is performed with the patient lying down, directly beneath the laser, and gazing at a target light while a computer tracks eye movements.
The eye surgeon then uses the computer to control and adjust the laser according to the patient's particular prescription. As the doctor watches the patient's eye through a microscope, he or she controls the laser as it sends out pulses of light that ablate the cornea, reshaping it into either a flatter or steeper shape as needed. The higher the prescription, the longer the surgery will take, although the procedure is typically over in less than a minute.
PRK patients do typically have more discomfort than LASIK patients, and the healing process takes more time as well. Improvement in vision with PRK is more gradual, and can take several days or even weeks before full vision is restored. These are two reasons why LASIK has become the more popular choice among people seeking vision correction surgery, although many surgeons still prefer PRK for some circumstances, if for example the patient has a very thin cornea.
Patients may be able to go to work the next day, but many doctors advise a couple of days of post-operative rest instead. Since the PRK surgery is performed directly on the surface of the eye, there can be considerable pain in the days after the procedure as the eye heals. Moreover, since the PRK laser process removes a portion of the actual epithelium, patients may be required to wear a temporary bandage-type contact lens for up to a week as the epithelium heals and regenerates. The use of antibiotic eye drops for a few days is also recommended to prevent infection and dry eyes.
As a whole, PRK and LASIK post-operative success rates are similar. A majority of patients report 20/20 vision after PRK laser eye surgery, which is also true of LASIK. Other patients may still require the use of glasses or contacts after the procedure, but at a much lower prescription level than before the surgery.
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Did you know that over one million laser vision correction procedures are performed in the US each year?
Becase of the accuracy of results, speed of recovery, and ease of treatment, lasik laser vision correction has become one of the most commonly performed surgeries throughout the US and the entire world.
