Day 1 - Surgery (Right)

I'm typing with one eye closed. :-) I had epi-LASIK (custom Wavefront PRK) on my right eye Tuesday, June 17, 2013. I decided to take a conservative approach and do my right eye first (correcting it for distance), assess the outcome, and then do the left eye.

Epi-LASIK (PRK) is similar to LASIK, but recommended for people who have a thinner cornea. In regular LASIK, a flap is cut in the cornea, folded back during laser surgery, and then put back in place after surgery. In Epi-LASIK, no flap is cut in the cornea. Instead, the top few layers of cornea membrane are removed by polishing them off, laser surgery is completed, the eye is flushed with liquid, and a bandage contact lens is placed on the cornea while it heals. The healing time for epi-LASIK is much longer than it is for LASIK because the outer membrane of the cornea needs to grow back. In regular LASIK, the result is immediate and there is virtually no healing time (other than the flap resealing). 

Epi-LASIK, like LASIK, is done using Wavefront, which means the laser treatment is customized to your particular eye. A "topographical map" is taken of your cornea and this information is programmed into the laser. The laser reshapes your cornea based on this information.

The epi-LASIK surgery itself was very quick. It took about 10 seconds. I was given half a Valium beforehand and they played Pink Floyd during the surgery. I think the song was "Breathe." The surgeon talked through all the steps as he performed them and put a "bandage" contact lens on my eye that will stay on for a week. It wasn't painful. I was given sunglasses to wear afterward and my better half drove me home. I'll be light sensitive for about a week and my eye will hurt for about three days while the outer membrane (epithelium) of my cornea grows back. 

As I left the surgeon's office, I asked one of the assistants to remove the right lens from my glasses so that I have them available to wear once the vision in my right eye improves. 

My vision in my right eye will be blurry for 1-2 weeks before it starts to stabilize. Right after the surgery, however, my vision in my right eye was much clearer than it had been before the surgery. It was blurry, but much less blurry than before. I'm not supposed to exercise or get dust in my eye for the first few days.

I'll go in for a post-surgery check up in a week. They'll remove the bandage contact lens then. I have a tentative appointment to do epi-LASIK on my left eye after the check up.

I'm excited to see where my vision in my right eye lands once my eye has healed and my vision has stabilized.