Should I Get Laser Eye Surgery? -411
I am 22 years old, with -1.25D in one eye and -1.5D in the other eye.
So far I live with blurry eyesight, putting on my glasses occasionally when driving or reading the board at school.
I was thinking of wavefront-guided PRK, which seems less intrusive to the eye compared to LASIK. In PRK the eye seems to heal back to it’s natural structure (with epithelial layers etc..) is that right?
Here is the question: will I lose some night vision? or get some higher-order abberations? (my worst fears) Is it worthwhile for my correction? Are there other side-effects at my myopic level? If someone with experience, would be much appreciated.
September 2nd, 2010 at 4:10 pm
You should get the surgery
September 2nd, 2010 at 4:17 pm
well sadly everyone is different so nobody can say for sure. but i was way worse than you i was -4.50 both eyes. i had lasic 8 years ago. i did notice some loss in night vision, but i had no need for glasses. but recently i am now a -.75 in both eyes and in need of glasses. the lasic will not last forever but the past 8 years were worth it. the chances of something going terribably wrong is slim to none. good luck
September 2nd, 2010 at 5:00 pm
You have asked several questions.
First, no the eye does not heal back to it’s normal structure with PRK. But it kinda does. What that means is PRK changes the shape of the eye by ablating tissue from the surface and deeper. This ablation of tissue permanently removes the basement membrane of the cornea (which the epithelial cells attach to). But this is really not a major issue because the epithelial cells regenerate and attach quite well to the deeper stroma of the cornea. So, the basement membrane is gone but it doesn’t affect your vision.
Second, many patients do notice a decrease in their night vision capabilities. For most, though, this is not a significant problem. The higher your prescription is (and yours is NOT very high) the greater the risk of night time vision problems.
Third, if your surgeon uses custom wave front technology, the laser actually has a better chance of DECREASING any higher order abberations than causing them.
Fourth, post op dryness is a common side effect that is independent of the degree of correction. For most, though, this dryness is temporary. I have seen some patients,though, who had pre op dryness develop permanent and disabling dryness after the surgery.
If you do not have any contraindicating factors such as large pupil size, dryness, ocular or systemic diseases, thin corneas, etc. you sound actually like a pretty good candidate. Only your surgeon, though, can tell you for sure how good a candidate you are because he will have all the information he needs to help you make this decision.
September 2nd, 2010 at 5:33 pm
Lasik vs PRK
Probably little or no difference with the end result some low power you have.However PRK is going to take much longer to recover both from visual and comfort point of view. You are able to achieve over 90% visual acuity with Lasik the very next day. Again quite negligible difference with such low power.
Dr Yeoh Phee Liang
Consultant Ophthalmologist
http://www.advancevision.net.my