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PRK Lasik Recovery |
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On November 30, 2007, I had PRK Lasik eye surgery. It was performed by Dr. Ella Faktorovich. at the Pacific Vision Institute in San Francisco, CA. I figured I'd share my experience with you all so that you'd have an idea of what my experience was like (yours may be similar). The First Week Day of Surgery: I arrived at the doctors office at 9:30 AM on Thursday and was out the door and home by 11:00 AM! In a nutshell, they dilated my pupils, put a whole bunch of different eye drops in them and let me sit for a few minutes while they did their magic. Then I was escorted into the operating room and lay down on the table. My surgeon was in the room, along with a few other doctors (all of whom were very nice). They prepped my eyes and explained to me that they would do one at a time and that the actual procedure would take about 10 seconds per eye. Once the prep was done, the laser (mounted in pretty high tech looking machine) was brought over my eye. I was told to stare at the red dot and try not to blink. For 10 seconds my eyes were flooded with eye drops as the laser did its work. There was no pain, but there was a little discomfort in knowing that a laser was zapping you :) Once done, I was given a couple minutes to relax before the same was done on the other eye. The actual procedure, start-to-finish, took about 10 minutes. After the procedure, I relaxed in the recovery room for about 30 minutes and then I was sent home with a lot of eye drops and a few prescriptions for more. I of course had a friend drive me home. For the rest of the day (up to I went to bed), I put 3 different types of eye drops into my eyes every 2 hours. That night (and for the next 4 nights) I would tape plastic eye shields to my face to protect my eyes. Day 1 (Friday): Woke up and couldn't see shit! Had double vision and everything was totally blurry! First thought through my head was "Oh my god, I just paid six thousand dollars for what?!?!!". That morning, I had a 9:00 AM follow up appointment that my friend Matt drive me to. The follow up exam lasted 10 minutes and I was told hat everything looked good and that my condition was normal. I was like "uggh!". I spent the day at home, in the dark, eating vicodin and putting eye drops in my eyes every 2 hours. I could not read, watch TV or look at computer monitor. All in all, I was not in a great mood :P Day 2 (Saturday): Same as Day 1, but without the double vision. Had my 9:00 AM post-op visit and everything was on track. Listened to a LOT of music on my IPOD. Still can't see much at all and am starting to get a little stir crazy. Day 3 (Sunday): Vision starting to improve a little. Still can't watch TV/read/use computer. The discomfort of my eyes healing is mostly gone and I'm no longer taking pain killers. Had my 9:00 AM post-op visit and everything was on track. I informed my doctor that a little more 'heads up' on being pretty much blind would have been nice. I could tell I made him a little uncomfortable as I vented on him, but he understood. That afternoon, I went for a walk outside with my friend Ian. LOL, I felt like a blind man walking around the city streets, but then again, I pretty much was. Day 4 (Monday): Vision getting better, though still very blurry. Had my 9:00 AM post-op visit and the doctor removed bandage contact lens from my eyes. My vision got more blurry for rest of day. By the evening, I could ALMOST watch TV (mmmm, blurry shapes), but still can't read or look at computer monitor due to the hypersensitivity to bright light). Day 5 (Tuesday): Vision blurry but getting better! Had my 9:00 AM post-op visit and everything was on track. My mood was improving as that morning I was able to use my computer. LOL the screen is still blurry but my eyes are no longer sensitive to the light from the monitor. Am sitting here typing my journal and catching up on email! Day 6 (Wednesday): Had my 9:00 AM post-op visit and everything was on track. Vision continue to steadily improve. Day 8 (Thursday - 1 week milestone): Today, I was able to drive myself to office for my 9:00 AM eye checkup. Though my vision wasn't perfect, it was good enough to drive the short distance. I would not have felt comfortable making any longer of a trip. My vision continues to improve.
Over the weekend, I would go out and buy the sunglasses I always wanted :) Here are my Oakleys! 3 Month Checkpoint So, it's been 3 months since my initial surgery. I continue to have follow up checkups once a week. My vision is 20/20 in my right eye and about 20/30 in my left eye (it's taking a little longer to heal. I am experiencing a bit of dry eye side effects and continue to use the lubricating eye drops at least 3 times a day (especially before I go to bed). The worst side effect is that about once a week, when I wake up, I find that my eyes have gotten very dry over the night and that my eye lid ends up sticking to my cornea. When I open then, it tears a bit of the top epidermal layer off my eye and it hurts like hell! For the next 30 minutes or so, it feels like there is sand trapped under my eye lid and that sucks!!!! The way to avoid this is to:
6 Month Checkpoint For the last three months, I've had follow up eye exams once a month. Per my last visit, my vision is now 20/10 in my right eye and 20/20 in my left eye :) The healing process continues to go well. The side effect that I mentioned above (eyelid sticking to cornea) occurs less frequently now (maybe about once every 4 weeks when I forget to hydrate properly before bed after a night of drinking), but it does still happen. Other than that, everything else is great! My next eye appointment won't be until November (1 year checkpoint) 9 Month Checkpoint All continues to go well. No major issues or changes.
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