LASIK vs PRK

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LASIK vs PRK
Both LASIK (Laser assisted in situ
keratomileusis) and PRK (Photo Refractive
Keratectomy)are both Laser eye surgeries
designed to treat Myopia, Hyperopia and
Astigmatism. PRK wasintroduced before LASIK in
the medical science field and is still used
frequently just like LASIK.
Both the surgeries have pretty much the same
overall effect, but they have slightly
differentprocedures and ways that the patients
undergo during the surgery.
Differences
a) Procedure
When undergoing LASIK, the surgeon makes an
incision in the cornea, cutting out a
smalltissue flap, which is carefully lifted to
make changes to inner layers of cornea and
reshapethem to get perfect vision using a
computer controlled laser. This improves the
distortedeyesight. Later, the cut-out corneal
flap is placed back on its original position
which healsback to normal in just a few days.
While getting treated with PRK, no corneal flap
is cut out, instead the upper most layer
ofcornea is removed to expose its inner layer to
a cool beam of UV ray which is used inreshaping
the cornea. The outer layer, which was removed,
grows back naturally. This is agood choice for
people with chronically dry eyes or for people
with thin corneas.
b) Recovery
People undergoing PRK take more time to recover,
when compared to LASIK because ofthe fact that
in PRK, outer cornea or outer epithelium layer
need to regenerateFor the first few days,
patients who underwent PRK are suggested to wear
contact lens ontheir eyes and is to be worn for
the first 3 to 5 days until healing of surface
epithelium anduse of eye-drops is
prescribes.Also, it is necessary to see your
surgeon a few times, withinthe first month of
surgery. Contact lenses are removed after the
healing process of outerepithelium is finished.
But it still takes 3 months after having the
surgery to reach your besteye-sight.
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In LASIK, patients can see normally either
instantly or within a few days of undergoing
thesurgery.The quality of vision keeps improving
over months till it reaches its peak quality.But
by the end of six months both the procedures have
shown same level of effectivenessfor people
suffering with different eye-problems.
c) Complications
PRK surgery does not cut out a corneal flap
utilizing microkeratome, so it is very
importantfor protective epithelium layers of the
cornea to heal post-surgery. Common side
effectsinclude
? Mild irritation
? Temporary sensitivity to light? Mild
glares and halos
LASIK involves incision of cornea and creating a
flap as a part of procedure. This is
somewhat risky and could cause flap
complications. These complications might lead
tooptical aberrations. During first few days of
post-surgery side-effects and complicationsinclud
e
? Trouble seeing at night? Dry eyes
? Seeing halos, starbursts
But still, the recovery process after undergoing
LASIK just takes a few days and the discomfortis
very short term.
Both the surgeries are considered medically safe
and have a high rate of success and
patientsatisfaction.
If you want to undergo PRK or LASIK Laser
surgeries, the best advice you can get is from
youreye-surgeon or eye-specialists.