PRK – All you should know

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PRK All you should know PRK stands for
Photorefractive Keratectomy, and was the very
first type of laser surgery. It is very useful
in correction of moderate near-sightedness,
far-sightedness and astigmatism, and for removal
of contact lens or glasses. Like, all the laser
surgeries PRK also focuses on reshaping cornea,
by exposing it to the laser made out of cool
beam of UV light which scrapes away the
epithelium of cornea. The outer layer of
Epithelium has a high growth rate and will grow
back naturally in some time, but this process
destroys the inner epithelial layers like
Bowmans membrane which naturally protects the
cornea and this could cause problem in the late
future.

• Pre-requisites to undergo PRK
• As a well-known treatment for myopia, almost 80
  people suffering with it are automatically
  eligible for the process. There are however, a
  few criteria that needs to be satisfied as well
• Eighteen years of age or more and a normal health
• Smaller pupil size in a dark room is more
  preferable
• Myopia between a scale of 1.00 to 12.00 diopters
• Should not be pregnant during the surgery
• Should not have used steroids
• No systematic disorder or ocular disease

Why opt for PRK? PRK surgery is extremely
accurate in case of myopia and approximately
eighty to ninety percent of the patients had an
eye-sight of 20/20 within one year of undergoing
the medical procedure, without any visual aid.
This surgery does not require a corneal flap,
instead an outer layer of cornea is removed for
a period of time, till the inner layer is treated
and then placing it back. This is beneficial to
people with very thin cornea and chronically dry
eyes.
Side-effects and Risks Involved
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Within a first couple of days a patient who
underwent PRK might experience mild
discomfort, irritation in eyes and temporary
sensitivity to light, which can be helped with
sunglasses. If, any other type of discomfort or
problems arise, they will be within the next six
months and might include taking a long time to
heal and obtain best vision, which might be
reached by 3-4 months of the surgery. Mild
glares, halos and images are other potential side
effect a patient might have to go through. Pain,
hazy eyes and night vision problems are also
commonly noted in patients. Should we opt for
PRK? The overall rate of success is very high.
And considering the fact that there are no other
hidden medical conditions that might affect the
healing process adversely, the outer epithelium
heals in a couple of days and the vision keeps
getting better with time and by three months, it
reaches best vision. Patients, who got their
vision corrected using PRK might still feel the
need to use glasses when Presbyopia sets in. It
is the inability to see well due to age-related
issues and changes in the eye. Other than there
are no fatal side-effects noted, and the process
over-all is very safe to undergo. But you should
always talk to your eye-specialist and get
yourself a complete body- checkup before
undergoing PRK, so that you could know if there
is anything that might interfere with the
optimum results.