Just got PRK after RK

[LasikExpert]

Remember, you are very early in the healing process. Patience is necessary.

[Indept]

Remember, you are very early in the healing process. Patience is necessary.

Thanks for the reminder. I get frustrated at times that it is still myopic, but remind myself to be patient. What would you consider a "reasonable" amount of time for hyperopic correction to stabilize?

[LasikExpert]

Three to six months, depending upon the patient.

[Indept]

Thanks for the reply LasikExpert. A little reassurance always helps.

[Indept]

It's been a while since my last update.and about 3 1/2 months since my touch up. My eye is still myopic. It's best in the morning. I'm getting the feeling that my surgeon should have backed off on the last correction slightly. I had an examination about 3 weeks ago due to some irritation & redness and the doctor examining me said I was at about 20/25. I've noticed that when I use the wetting drops my vision is much sharper for a minute or so. Maybe it's the drops smoothing the epithelium so I may improve some yet. I realize that it could take 6 months or more for the epithelium to stabilize so I'll just be patient. It's definitely better than it was prior to my Oct '09 touch up.

[DryEye]

What about PRK over Lasik for small amounts of correction. Would Mytocin C still be needed?

[LasikExpert]

Mitomycin C is commonly applied before PRK on Lasik flap to reduce the probability of corneal haze due to an aggressive wound response. It is a strong medicine that should be avoided if possible, but is appropriate when required.

[Indept]

I'm Baaaaack.

Well it's been a year since my last update. I settled in at about -.5.
Slight history
about -1 before 1st PRK
Almost +2 after PRK (eye overreacted due to the RK incisions)
after PRK enhancment in fall of '09 I went back to -.5
Decided to undergo 1 more enhancement which I did last Thursday 2/3/11.
This time my surgeon cut back the correction by about 1/2 due to the first 2 "overreactions".
1st 3 days was the same discomfort as prior 2 PRKs, scratchy but tolerable.
Vision was blurry but ok at my checkup on day 2 (with bandage contact in). Then got blurry over the next few days. Got the contact out on Tuesday.
Eye still blurry today.
Now I'm comfortable with this because after the first PRK my vision on the 3rd day after surgery was excellent (perfectly clear) at distance (with the bandage contact in) and was good for about 2-3 weeks after the bandage contact was removed (with the exception of the day the contact was removed, which it went blurry for a day). Then it got progressively hyperopic over the following months so THIS blurry is OK with me to start.
I shall see (excuse the pun) how things go over the next few weeks and months.

[LasikExpert]

Thanks ever so much for keeping us informed of your progress!

[Indept]

Well, here I am at 2 weeks and a few days. My eye was blurry up until this week and very blurry on Thursday due to a VERY late night at work Wednesday, staring at a computer monitor & very little sleep (5 hours) then back to work. But Thursday was also the start of weening off the steroid drops. I did the Antibiotic drop & steroid drop every 4x / day the first week, then stopped the antibiotic drop & switched to Lotemax steroid drops 3x / day for week 2, then 2x / day week 3 which started Thursday, then 1x / day this coming Thursday for the last week.

Well I noticed very good vision for about 10 - 15 minutes Tuesday & Wednesday then went fairly blurry for the rest of the day & lousy Thursday to to very little sleep not to mention battling a terrible head cold. The cold is much better now & I noticed when I woke up Friday, my eye was excellent for the first couple of hours then was still pretty good but hazy.

I feel I am making good progress and hopefully as I ween off the steroids, things will get better.

[LasikExpert]

The eye's tear ducts drain into the nasal cavity. A cold commonly causes inflammation in the sinus. Cold medicine commonly includes a decongestant, which can cause dry eyes. You are working hard, long, and late. Start using preservative-free artificial tears every hour while you are taking any cold medicine or have cold symptoms. Preservative-free are easy to spot because they come in single-use vials and cost more, but you don't want the preservatives. My bet is that as your cold and dry eyes resolve, your vision will resolve too.

[Indept]

Thanks for the advice LasikExpert. I do use preservative free drops and I am taking claritan D for my sinus issues, which should be ending soon. I feel good about my progress and I know it takes a while with PRK.

[Indept]

Week3: Down t 1x / day for the steroid drops as of Thursday. Friday I woke up with excellent vision. Evidently the steroid drops were having some effect on my vision. My distance vision was perfect throughout the day. Same today (Saturday), my distance is excellent. My close in vision is blurry up until about arms length which for my age, 53, is about right. With my left (untreated) eye which is still nearsighted at about 20/40, I can read about 6 inches closer so as I see it (no pun intended) I will need reading glasses. I hope my eye doesn't settle in any farther. I can see 20/15 so if this is where it ends up, I will be very happy with the results.

[LasikExpert]

This is an excellent monovision result, if this is where your vision stabilizes.

Here is a little trick about reading glasses and monovision. Your right eye is corrected for distance vision. You will probably need rather strong reading glass correction. For demonstration, let's say you need +2.00 to read clearly in your right eye. Your left eye is a bit nearsighted, so you will need less powerful reading glasses. For demonstration, let's say you need +1.00.

Go to your drug store and find a reading glasses frame that you like and that the lenses can be removed by losening the tiny screws. Buy one pair that is +2.00 and another identical pair that is +1.00. Take the +2.00 pair, remove the left lens, and put the left lens from the +1.00 pair into the +2.00 pair. You now have for the relatively inexpensive price of two dime store reading glasses a custom pair of reading glasses set especially for your monovision eyes.

Depending upon your actual experience, you may want to have a pair of glasses made to fully correct both eyes for distance vision. These can be used when excellent distance vision and depth perception is required, such as driving at night.

[Indept]

This might be a good short term solution but monovision isn't my goal here. It is very annoying when my untreated (myopic) eye gives up and goes blurry during the course of the day. I intend to get my left eye done assuming the right settles in where it's at now. I'll take it slow for now to see how this correction settles out in the months to come. Good advice for anyone like myself that has had RK and wants to get PRK, do 1 eye at a time as I have until you find how your eyes react.