My PRK Experience: Right Eye Treated (No More Monovision)

Left Eye: post-op day 15
Right Eye: post-op day 1

After two weeks of suffering monovision, yesterday I finally had a PRK performed on my right eye. The procedure went much as it did for the left eye with the only difference being my immediate post-op vision was blurry and smudged with an almost grayish glow. The staff in the surgery room assured me that every eye is different and my vision would clear up soon. They were right. A few hours after the procedure, the blurred vision was gone. Strangely, the ice-cold eye drops didn’t cause as much pain this time, while my post-operative pain was much greater than the left eye. On my way out of the surgery center yesterday, I threw my crazed, scratched glasses in their trash. You have no idea how good that felt!

This morning I had my day 1 post-op doctor visit while en route to the FIRST Robotics Competition in Portland. Amazingly, my visual acuity was 20/25 and it has remained very sharp throughout the day. My surgeon noted that my epithelium had healed about 30% and again asked me to take the Pred Forte and Zymar four times per day. I also have some Bromday drops for pain, though these drops apparently slow the healing process so they are to be used sparingly. While my right eye vision was excellent throughout the day, I am starting to see my visual acuity worsen significantly, both for distance and near vision. As with the left eye, the healing epithelium causes a sharp but temporary decline in vision as it slowly covers the surface of the cornea.

I had my visual acuity checked for my left eye this morning and it was still at 20/20, though just barely. This is not an unexpected result since my visual will continue to fluctuate for the next few months.