PRK Eye Surgery

People can have PRK if they:

• are over 18 years old, 
• have not changed their glasses prescription in the recent year, 
• have mild hyperopia or astigmatism (up to 3 dioptre).

It can be performed if the eye structure of the person is suitable depending on the eye examinations.

People cannot have PRK if they have:

• problems such as corneal thickness that is not suitable for an operation,
• structural disorder in keratoconus or corneal dystrophy,
• cataracts,
• severe dry eye disease or high eye pressure,
• uncontrolled diabetes,
• rheumatic diseases,
• HIV-positive,
• been pregnant or breastfeeding.

The healing process of PRK treatment is longer compared to LASIK treatment. In addition, despite the high rate of pain complaints at the beginning, PRK surgery is safely performed on patients who are not suitable for LASIK

Contact lenses, depending on the characteristics of the lens, should be removed before PRK examination and surgery. Soft lenses at least a week before and hard lenses at least two weeks should be removed before it. If the person experiences some problems such as burning eyes, the eye doctor should be informed before the operation

Don`t make-up, use perfume or deodorant, and cream on the operation day. You can only a light meal before the surgery

• Firstly, the eyes are numbed with anesthetic eye drops. Thus, the patient does not feel any pain during the procedure.
• During the surgery, an eye retractor is used that helps to keep open the eyelids.
• The epithelial tissue on the upper layer of the cornea is resected. No pain is felt, but a little pressure in this area may be felt for a short time.
• After the epithelial tissue is resected, laser treatment is performed to remove the refractive error in the eye.
• After the laser correction process, soft contact lenses are placed on the eye to reduce the pain until the epithelial tissue grows again.
• The procedure is completed by putting antibiotic drops in the eye.
• The operation lasts nearly 10 to 15 minutes.

The special safety goggles should be worn on the operation day. Epithelial tissue healing after PRK takes an average of 3-5 days. This process can be painful. In addition, burning and watering eyes are among the symptoms in the early period after the operation. After the epithelial tissue healed, the contact lens is removed by the eye doctor.

Antibiotics, cortisone eye drops and tear drops should be used depending on the eye doctor`s advice, and post-operative doctor checks should be followed

The symptoms such as burning and pain decrease after the epithelial tissue has healed. After the first check the person can return to the normal life, but having the good vision is longer than with LASIK and can last nearly 3 to 4 weeks

After removing the contact lens worn that is applied for the protection and after the examination, the person can return to normal life. To protect the eye from infection, please avoid to go swimming pool, sea and sauna at least 20 days

After the second post-operative doctor check, the person can do sports such as hiking, cycling and aerobics. However, team sports such as basketball, soccer, tennis and boxing, which can damage the eyes, should be avoided for 20 days

In this surgery, the desired and successful results can be reached. Even if the rate is low, depending on the ametropia in the eye, it may remain at a low ametropia

Cloudiness can occur in the cornea, but this condition is resolved with long-term treatments

There are some possible complications include infection, delayed recovery, and opacification