my PRK experience (Score 1)

I had PRK in 1999. How it works now...I don't know, but this is what was done then (in very untechnical terms).

A laser was used to cut a ring in my cornea (2 seconds) and a swab (but not like the one you get at the drug store) was run across my cornea to remove it. Obviously, you see this. It was just like having someone remove a contact lens. Then they lined the laser up again and began burning progressively smaller discs from my lens. Then end result was a cone burned into my lens. One eye took about 45 seconcs, the other about 75 seconds. I had them done two weeks apart, so that I could still see from one eye as the other healed.

There was no abraiding done. I had to wear a special contact for a couple of weeks until the cornea grew back, but there was never any pain, just itching (and for God's sake, don't rub). My vision is now 20/15 and 20/10 (right, left) and I do see halos, but they are generally only on distant, stationary, none-too-bright sources. The lights on the interstate are the most noticable. It always looks like it is foggy around the tops of the light poles, but lights down on the road (e.g. headlights) look normal. The only lights that give me any problems are those PITA lights they use to light the edges of stairs and aisles in theaters. If I try to look at the ground in a dark theater and walk it is so disorienting that I can't judge distances. I just walk out looking ahead, hand on the wall or my wife.

I was told (and my experience backs it up) that your eyes don't have the sort of nerves that register pain. They feel pressure and moisture, but you can't really hurt the surface of your eye. They give you drops so they can hold your eye open without you squirming when your eye drys.

The only thing that made me nervous is that you have to hold your eye still (since you can't really see anyway, I guess it didn't matter on where you focus). I was affraid I would turn my eye (even a little could be bad) and screw up the whole thing. It didn't happen though, and laying still for one minute is small beans for never wearing glasses or contacts again.

I forget what I paid, but I think it was around 3500-4000 total dollars (US) for both eyes. I would, with absolutely no hessitation at all, do it all over again, and probably at twice the price. My eyes were horrendous before, but they are better than 20/20 now. My wife will likely be having it done in a couple of years, and anyone that asks me will get a resounding endorsement. I was 21 when I had it done, so there is still the chance that the typical occular degeneration that occurs later in life will require that I need reading glasses, but for the next 20 or 30 years I can see fine with my naked eyes.