- Nov 16, 2006
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On 5/21 I went and got myself some Photo-Refreactive-Keratectomy due to a slew of life circumstances that told me that waiting for the perfect time to better yourself is a loser's game. Like the much more popular LASIK, its a form of laser eye surgery that will essentially "etch" a contact lens onto the surface of the cornea to get folks to perfect 20/20 vision.
My eyes were at roughly -8.5 (extreme nearsightedness) and this last year really brought my frustration with glasses into focus (hur hur hur) thanks to masks getting them to fog up all the time.
Whole thing cost me about $5800 bucks with VSP insurance($2900 per eye is how they bill it) and included all pre-op and post-op appointments.
A couple things for those folks looking into this procedure prospectively:
- Everyone who has had Lasik will tell you to get it, but if you're having PRK your eyes are probably too messed up for Lasik (Thin corneas + extremely high eye number), and they will tell you things like "OMG my eyesight was perfect afterward" and "I was back at work after two days". Do not listen to these people if you're getting PRK. Your eyes will be in some form of pain for two weeks following the procedure and your eyesight will get really bad before it gets better (Thanks to your eyes having to regrow cells over the cornea, a process that does not have to happen with Lasik). You will doubt yourself and wonder if you made the right decision.
- The actual procedure is super fast but its also extremely anxiety inducing. TAKE THE ANTI-ANXIETY MEDS THEY GIVE YOU. Its effectively what I assume being abducted by aliens would feel like. Lots of drops in each eye, a sort of "halo" comes down over your head and there is an array of targeting lasers and lights. Eye scraping and other fun things happen (your eyes are numbed, I recall the nurse telling my wife "Don't worry he cannot feel that" and starting to get worried as a result). Even through each eye takes all of 5 minutes, it will feel like a god damn eternity. The thing that I remember the most is the smell of the laser burning off parts of my cornea. It smells like a mix of burning flesh and burning rubber and its frikin horrible.
- TAKE THE PAINKILLERS THEY GIVE YOU. Jesus H Christ just do it. Do everything in your power to sleep for the as much of the first 48 hours as possible.
- YOU WILL DOUBT THAT YOU MADE THE RIGHT DECISION AT FIRST. I wish someone told me that. Your eyes hurt like hell, your vision is not 20/20 thanks to your eyes being in pain and being inflamed from the procedure, even your near sight will fail in a couple days following the procedure. STICK WITH IT.
- I went from functionally blind to 20/60 vision in about a week. Another week and I was at 20/40 vision. At this point, I'm around 20/30 vision about 3 weeks out. Every morning I get up and look at a few test objects in my room. Every morning I can see everything just a little bit more clearly. I figure in another two or three weeks, I'll be at 20/20 vision.
I am making this post for anyone considering laser eye surgery that has been directed to PRK instead of LASIK. A lot of people know about LASIK, but many people have gotten PRK. LASIK is like crossfit, the folks that got it won't shut the fuck up about it and how incredible it is, which tends to skew the conversation around laser eye surgery a lot. PRK is one of the gym rats that are always super fit but eat pizza and tacos and drink beer and hang with the bros. You keep wondering what the hell their secret is but they don't blab it from the mountaintops.
I'm not there yet, but today was the first day I drove my family to the beach and picked through cool stones with my daughter and looked to the waves in the distance while lounging in my chair without once thinking about whether or not I was wearing glasses or why my eyesight isn't where it was promised to be (yet). It was a good day.
My eyes were at roughly -8.5 (extreme nearsightedness) and this last year really brought my frustration with glasses into focus (hur hur hur) thanks to masks getting them to fog up all the time.
Whole thing cost me about $5800 bucks with VSP insurance($2900 per eye is how they bill it) and included all pre-op and post-op appointments.
A couple things for those folks looking into this procedure prospectively:
- Everyone who has had Lasik will tell you to get it, but if you're having PRK your eyes are probably too messed up for Lasik (Thin corneas + extremely high eye number), and they will tell you things like "OMG my eyesight was perfect afterward" and "I was back at work after two days". Do not listen to these people if you're getting PRK. Your eyes will be in some form of pain for two weeks following the procedure and your eyesight will get really bad before it gets better (Thanks to your eyes having to regrow cells over the cornea, a process that does not have to happen with Lasik). You will doubt yourself and wonder if you made the right decision.
- The actual procedure is super fast but its also extremely anxiety inducing. TAKE THE ANTI-ANXIETY MEDS THEY GIVE YOU. Its effectively what I assume being abducted by aliens would feel like. Lots of drops in each eye, a sort of "halo" comes down over your head and there is an array of targeting lasers and lights. Eye scraping and other fun things happen (your eyes are numbed, I recall the nurse telling my wife "Don't worry he cannot feel that" and starting to get worried as a result). Even through each eye takes all of 5 minutes, it will feel like a god damn eternity. The thing that I remember the most is the smell of the laser burning off parts of my cornea. It smells like a mix of burning flesh and burning rubber and its frikin horrible.
- TAKE THE PAINKILLERS THEY GIVE YOU. Jesus H Christ just do it. Do everything in your power to sleep for the as much of the first 48 hours as possible.
- YOU WILL DOUBT THAT YOU MADE THE RIGHT DECISION AT FIRST. I wish someone told me that. Your eyes hurt like hell, your vision is not 20/20 thanks to your eyes being in pain and being inflamed from the procedure, even your near sight will fail in a couple days following the procedure. STICK WITH IT.
- I went from functionally blind to 20/60 vision in about a week. Another week and I was at 20/40 vision. At this point, I'm around 20/30 vision about 3 weeks out. Every morning I get up and look at a few test objects in my room. Every morning I can see everything just a little bit more clearly. I figure in another two or three weeks, I'll be at 20/20 vision.
I am making this post for anyone considering laser eye surgery that has been directed to PRK instead of LASIK. A lot of people know about LASIK, but many people have gotten PRK. LASIK is like crossfit, the folks that got it won't shut the fuck up about it and how incredible it is, which tends to skew the conversation around laser eye surgery a lot. PRK is one of the gym rats that are always super fit but eat pizza and tacos and drink beer and hang with the bros. You keep wondering what the hell their secret is but they don't blab it from the mountaintops.
I'm not there yet, but today was the first day I drove my family to the beach and picked through cool stones with my daughter and looked to the waves in the distance while lounging in my chair without once thinking about whether or not I was wearing glasses or why my eyesight isn't where it was promised to be (yet). It was a good day.