Is PRK is a longer, more painful recovery than LASIK? A friend of mine (Vishu) and I had LASIK and PRK vision correction surgeries performed on the same day. Here is a side-by-side comparison between the two recoveries...
Day Of Surgery
| PRK | LASIK |
| Felt pretty good. Vision was about the same as I had before the surgery. The very first instant out of the chair felt like the first time I put on glasses, like the floor was higher than it was. The pain was more of a scratchiness... like I had something little in my eye, no big deal. I could not look at a computer screen much less work. I went home and slept. | First 4 hours were horrible - searing burning pain as I slept off the valium. Could not open my eyes. When I woke up I still felt like something was in my eyes, but not too bad. I could see pretty well - a thousand times better than before. I can see now! Night vision is pretty trippy with tons of halos. |
Recovery Day 1
| PRK | LASIK |
| Not too bad. The vision was about the same as it was before the surgery. This was confirmed by vision tests performed at the lab (20/30 L, 20/40 R). I saw quite a bit of haloing at night in both eyes. My corneas were about 50% healed at this point and I discovered that the Nevanac was what made the pain go away. I think that the stock prices of the company who makes this drug will go up... it is that good. I still couldn't look at a computer screen, and thus no work. | No pain or dryness. Vision at 20/40 in left eye, 20/25 in right. Considered excellent - above expectations. The followup visit identified inflammation of the flaps which is not uncommon with intralase. Start taking pred forte every .5h. Looking at the computer screen is a little trippy because the icons have halos, but I can work no problem (I actually work for 12h) |
Recovery Day 2
| PRK | LASIK |
| Ack! My eyes were extremely watery and I had trouble opening them for more than about 5 seconds (no more Nevanac)... I first thought, I was just extremely sensitive to light but this happened even in pitch black environments. They also burned. On a scale of 1 - 10 (being most miserable); I was a 5 on the burning, 9 overall. I ended up sleeping the whole day because there was nothing else that I could really do. I definitely couldn't work, even though I walked to the train (and right back home) like a dumbass. | I have to take pred forte every .5h and there is white caking all over my eyes. I'm not allowed to touch them, so it just builds up. But I'm also not experiencing dryness since I'm always dropping. Set an alert on my machine to notify me every .5h and can't believe how fast they're going. |
Recovery Day 3
| PRK | LASIK |
| I woke up and forgot that I had undergone surgery. That was nice. I would have gone nuts if I were to have another day like yesterday. There was no pain in my right eye and very little (like a 2/10) in my left eye. The visit to the doctor confirmed this (20/30 L, 20/25 R). I wanted him to take out the protective lenses at this point, but since my left eye was only 95% healed I would have to wait until the next day. I was able to put in a full days work but looking at a monitor was still challenging. I am also pretty sensitive to light, night driving is not possible. | Another checkup and I'm down to dropping pred forte every 2h again. Went out to dinner with friends. My vision is great for distances the size of a room indoors, but when walking around outside I notice that it's still blurry for street signs. Halos are a lot better. Not zero, but very tolerable. |
Recovery Day 4
| PRK | LASIK |
Today the doctor removed the bandage contact lenses from my eyes. I was looking forward to not having them in because I could feel them hit my eyelids from time to time. What I did not expect was that my vision was actually going to get worse again when he took them out.  My eyes are also now more prone to dryness and itchiness. The bandage contacts were absolutely necessary for the first few days and really did help stabilize my vision while the epithelial cells were growing back. The nice part is that from here on out, the visual gains will be unaided and true. I was able to drive at night without a problem. | I've been wearing sunglasses all the time to help me remember not to rub my eyes, but they're getting annoying, so I'm wearing them less. Went out again tonight, no problem. |
Recovery Day 5
We both pretty much have the same comments at this point.. our eyes still get dry but the tears drops solve the issue. We both are also to the point that we want our vision to be perfect (no halos, great at long distances, etc) and are amazed how quickly we both got to that point.
Conclusion
Is PRK is a longer, more painful recovery than LASIK? In a word: yes. I definitely think that my vision will ultimately take longer to come in than Vishu's. The doctor says it can take up to 6 weeks for it to fully hone in. I think my pain was mitigated by Nevanac, which is something Vishu didn't get from his doctor. If I did not have it, my day 1 recovery would probably have been the same as my day 2 which was absolutely horrible.
Please head over to the forum to post your experiences!
Please head over to the forum, to chat about laser vision correction (lasik, prk, whatever). I successfully moved all of the existing comments over to the forum.