Three PRK questions

[Sastan]

I've booked myself for refractive eye surgery in Singapore next week. I fly out at the end of the week (I live in a small city at the top of Australia, and it's faster and cheaper to go to Singapore than to a large Aussie city like Sydney or Melbourne), and I'm a little worried.

The clinic I'm going to is pretty trustworthy IMO, it's a part of the national hospital system (ie. government run) and have been doing this for over a decade. One of their senior surgeons is the department head of Opthamology at NUS (National University of Singapore). I've been assigned a senior surgeon as well (they charge you a large fee if you want to specify which surgeon you want allocated), who's performed 20% of the clinics 50,000+ refractive eye surgeries, so he's very experienced as well.

However, after a limited email consult with him he prefers LASIK surgeries, and says he has not performed PRK surgery in 5 years. I told him that I wanted to go for PRK as I'm involved in grappling/MMA so wanted absolutely no risk of flap displacement, though he insists that Lasik is just as safe for me as PRK. He has agreed to perform PRK 'if I insist'.

My first question is basically this:

1) should a skilled and experienced surgeon who specialises in and prefers Lasik be suitable for a PRK surgery? He used to perform PRK but switched over exclusively to Lasik 5 years ago. I don't know what to think, and to switch to a different surgeon that I specifically request would cost significantly more. I won't be able to talk more to the surgeon until my pre-assessment next week on Monday (and surgery is scheduled for Tuesday on my first eye).

My second question is about PRK versus Epi-Lasik. If the epithelial layer is removed during Epi-Lasik (which apparently many surgeons prefer doing these days), then it's more or less identical to PRK, the only difference being how the layer is removed.

2) What I don't understand is

a) why is the recovery time for Epi-Lasik generally shorter (from what I've read) than PRK?
b) Is there significantly different success rates between the two surgeries? The clinic is charged 50% more for Epi-Lasik than PRK, I'd want to know the money is being spent wisely.

Finally,

3) How long can I do activities before and after surgery? Specifically, since I'll be in another country I'd like to do some sightseeing, maybe some drinking. I'll be in Singapore for 3 days before surgery, and about 10 days after surgery, how long would I have to wait before being able to have a beer or two?

I appreciate your help with my questions!

Regards,
Joy

[vitaliny]

I wouldn't take a chance - it's your eyes you're talking about - and would not try to save, especially in case you have doubts in your surgeon.

I'd maybe try to save of dentist but never on eye surgery