My PRK Experience
My PRK surgery will always be remembered. It was the last time I wore corrective lenses or contact lenses. It was February 22, 2007 and I was doing my work at the office, it was a surgery day at Image Plus Laser Eye Centre.
My surgery was booked for later in the afternoon and I was very excited for my surgery. My afternoon duties included getting patients prepared for their surgery and I was excited for my upcoming surgery talking to each patient about it.
Well the moment finally came and it was my time to get prepared for my own laser eye surgery. I was surprisingly calm and declined taking the mild sedative Ativan before going into the surgery room as I didn’t feel I needed it, I was already relaxed although quite excited. I was brought into the surgery room after leaving my glasses behind knowing I would never need to put them on my face again. This gave me a great feeling inside, knowing that after wearing contacts and glasses for over 15 years that I would not rely on them ever again!
The surgery chair was surprisingly comfortable after settling into it and being lined up for my laser treatment. After watching the laser eye surgeries at the centre many times over, there was a solace knowing that I would know every step performed in the surgical room having watched them from behind the glass of the viewing window. But being on the inside of the surgery room as a patient, you would think that I would be more nervous. It’s one thing to be watching from the outside in the viewing room to being under the laser for your own treatment!
After being given some instructions from the staff in the OR, I had a drape placed over my right eye and Dr. Wiens entered the room and put on his surgical gloves. This was it! This was his world and what he knows best, performing laser eye surgery. They put some numbing Alcaine drops in my right eye to start and Dr. Wiens gave me some idle chat to take my mind off of surgery for just a moment. Some sticky tape was put over my top and bottom lashes and a lid separator was put on my eye to keep it open. I felt like I was blinking at this point even though they had placed the lid separator in my eye to keep me from doing just that. As far as I was concerned, it felt like it wasn’t there and that I was blinking, but I in fact wasn’t. Then I felt a cool rinse on my eye, more numbing drops and then I could hear the sound of the Amoils brush, which sounds like an electric toothbrush. This I describe as an “extreme ticklish” feeling on my eye when this brush was removing the top epithelial layer. Nothing painful but just hard to look straight at the brush. At this point, during the brushing, I only saw a black round object and it made it difficult to focus on the red flashing light on the VISX laser. Which was what I was to do at this point in time.
The brushing lasted for only a few moments, maybe 10 seconds. Then my vision was noticeably more blurry in my right eye until I felt a nice cool rinse on my eye where the red flashing light became more visible. But then Dr. Wiens used a small sponge to wipe off that moisture and the red light became a little less visible again. The room lights dropped down and darkness filled the room with my treatment to start in just a moment. The laser locked onto my eye and suddenly it started and I saw some colorful lights as the loud ticking sound of the laser started removing microscopic amounts of tissue to correct my vision. I was still calm at this point but felt almost like smiling because this was when it sunk in that I can’t go back and back out of the surgery. It was real and this would be the start of my life changing transformation from wearing contact lenses and glasses, to not wearing them.
I don’t remember the exact time of my treatment but it was around 35 seconds I believe. The colorful lights I saw during my treatment are hard to explain but I would describe them as a light show or kaleidoscope of lights. Very neat and hard to describe exactly. I could hear them counting down this treatment time which was very good knowing how soon it would be finished. Then it was 3-2-1, completed, and the room lights came on again. Another rinse was felt on my right eye and another sponge applied to take away the moisture. Then a small white pad was placed on my eye for about 15 seconds, which I was told, reduces the corneal haze after.
I felt another rinse after the 15 seconds passed and this was a long cool rinse instead of a quick rinse to flush away the rest of the solution from my eye. Another sponge was used to wipe the moisture away yet again and a contact was placed on my eye with a series of drops including a antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, and a natural tear drop.
My vision was a bit blurry at this point but not bad at all considering I just had laser surgery on that eye moments ago. The drape was then taken off my right eye and it felt like my eyes lashes came with the drape when it came off. Then another drape was used to cover my left eye. Half way finished at this point. I could feel some butterflies in my stomach as I knew the surgery was almost complete. The same steps were then performed on my left eye with the Alcaine numbing drops to start.
Dr. Wiens, during my procedure, is not too technical, just explaining what I was to experience, or sense. His voice being comforting and not too overpowering. You just have a sense that you are in good hands, he is the captain of the ship. Everything with the left eye seemed to mirror what was done with the right eye. It was more comforting with the left eye as well, knowing what exactly to expect having just had the right eye treated moments ago.
Once the contact lens was placed on my left eye after my treatment, I knew my surgery was complete and I couldn’t wait to sit up and test my new vision. They took off the drape and the sticky tape covering my eye lashes and I sat up. A smile came to my face as I could see, although a bit blurry. It was definitely better vision than when I went into the surgery room 15 minutes before that moment.
Dr. Wiens checked my eyes with a very bright light at a slip lamp and I was led out of the surgery room thanking the surgical staff for the great job they did, as well as Dr. Wiens.
He then led me to the recovery room where I sat in a comfortable reclining chair for a few moments before going home to rest. My vision at this point was a little bit hazy but pretty good considering I just came out of surgery a short while ago. I chatted with the staff for a few minutes and left for home where I was to rest for several hours.
I tried to sleep as part of the recommended advice of the doctor and this did not seem to work for me. I don’t know if I was still excited from my surgery or that I wanted to try out my “new eyes” at this point. I did close my eyes for a couple of hours but then got up and promptly watched my own laser vision correction surgery DVD. I was curious on what it looked like from the other side, seeing what the doctor saw. I found it very interesting and just found it amazing that I was actually watching my own surgery DVD the same day as having the surgery.
I kept using the moisture drops very often while awake because it gave a lot of comfort on the eyes as they felt a little dry. You could tell there were contact lenses in each eye but the moisture drops did help to alleviate that dryness that you get from wearing contacts. And having my drops in the fridge gave a nice feeling of comfort and coolness on the eyes.
I stayed up for a few hours and then used my medicated drops before settling in for the night. The next day I came in for my 1 day post-operative appointment with Dr. Wiens and my eyes felt the same as they did that previous night, no pain or real discomfort, only the slight dry feeling.
My vision turned out to be 20/20 in my right eye and 20/10 in my left eye at this 1 day appointment. I was pleasantly surprised but knew the vision would get slightly more blurry in the coming days as the epithelial grew back. The following day I was to come in for a contact lens change in each eye and because it was a Saturday, only Dr. Wiens was in the office along with some other patients, no other staff though. My eyes still felt the same at this point, only a slight dry feeling but the moisture drops I was steadily using to help with that dryness.
My contact lenses were changed after a short wait and I was to return for a follow-up appointment on Monday. Shortly after this visit though I was at the Portage Place mall and suddenly I found everything very very bright. I found myself finding a hard time not to squint inside the mall and my eyes were starting to water from the light sensitivity. My sunglasses came on and stayed on as everything was extremely bright for me. This actually lasted till Sunday night and I couldn’t even look at the TV because I found it too bright until turning down the brightness on the screen.
On Monday I returned to work with my light sensitivity seeming to return to normal but I found it still blurry and especially hard to focus on things such as print on the computer. I probably wasn’t as productive as I would have been normally, just because I couldn’t really use the computers at all due to my blurry vision. I did have another follow up appointment with Dr. Wiens during the day and my left eye had healed enough to have the contact lens removed, which felt better on the eye without the contact. The other contact lens in my right eye came out the following day but I was still unable to see well enough to drive at this point, that came at about the week mark after my surgery. This was nice to get back to driving again at the week mark and not rely on other people to drive me from place to place anymore.
It was still not great vision at this point as my vision was still fluctuating. After about 2 weeks it started to get more clear for me. It does take time for the haze to clear in the cornea and depends on the person, everybody heals a little bit differently. And I would consider my night vision poor to start with, before my surgery I had halos around lights and glare as well, especially driving in rain. I never felt comfortable driving at night before my surgery. Immediately after my surgery my night vision was still poor but after about a month, it stabilized and improved dramatically. It is very noticeable and I really enjoy the positive difference in the quality of my night vision. Now I don’t mind driving at night at all since it has been enhanced so much. This is due to the Advanced Custom Wavefront system picking up the imperfections in my eyes and being able to treat them which made a big impact on my vision.
It’s now been 2 and a half years after my surgery I have 20/10 vision and my night vision has been greatly enhanced. I have no regrets about my laser vision correction and really have enjoyed the benefits of not wearing glasses or contacts. The biggest and most memorable thing that I benefited from after surgery was snorkeling in Mexico this past January. This would have been a nightmare before my surgery to even attempt snorkeling but I really enjoyed it after my surgery and couldn’t believe how clear it was under the water. Other than that, sports, driving, and seeing the alarm clock in the morning are all great benefits which I enjoy regularly now. My only regret is that I should have done this years ago!
Kevin Porte
Tags: ilasik, IMAGE PLUS, image plus laser eye centre, implantable lens, intralase, laser eye surgery, laser vision correction, prk, refractive surgery, visian, visian icl, visian ticl, visx, wavefront