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Laser Eye Surgery PRK Recovery

It’s been over a year since I had my PRK laser eye surgery! The first and only blog post about the experience I wrote when I was about 5-6 days post operation and for months now I’ve been wanting to write an update. Surprisingly, PRK Recovery Story is a keyword that draws quite a few readers to my blog from Google every month… so here’s an update:

I had my final check-up the last week of February, 13 months after my surgery date. Before the surgery, my prescription was -1.75 in the left eye and -3.75 in the right. In my right eye, I have astigmatism, a curvature of the eye that makes it difficult to wear contact lenses. With our wedding coming up (I was engaged at the time!) and contacts not being an option for me, I knew it was time to get the surgery done.

I chose London Eye Centre in New West, based off of a friend’s referral. She was very happy with her experience so that put my mind at ease. The actual surgery is 100% painless. Pain numbing drops are placed in your eyes and then a very gentle wire frame holds both of your eyelids open. (I promise it doesn’t hurt.) The lasers shoot for approximately 30 seconds in each eye – once again, you feel nothing. Then you’re handed a pair of dark sunglasses and on your way home!

You can read more thoroughly about my recovery in the first blog post. However, by the 72 hour mark – your eyes can tolerate light quite well and life is feeling splendidly normal again after a long weekend of darkness. Most clinics say recovery is 3-5 days and mention your vision continues to get better up to a year after your surgery.

It’s almost unanimous in patient’s recovery stories that 3-5 days is a modest time frame. Sure, you can see and feed yourself and you don’t need your fiancé to put toothpaste on your toothbrush by Day 4, but using any kind of screen will give you a headache. A last minute trip came up for me only 7 days after my surgery and although it was fine, flying by myself and being in a new city… I was popping Aleve every single day for the headaches. They were not fun!

If you’re hoping to go back to an office job… unfortunately the first two weeks will be super irritating. Any more than an hour or two at a screen will not be good! Anyhow, by the two-week mark some of the slight blurriness and cloudiness was beginning to lift and I could feel my eyes getting better.

I felt totally “normal” by 3 weeks. Because your eyes are changing gradually, and my prescription before wasn’t awful before it’s hard to track how your vision is improving. However, at my one year checkup, my left eye is a prescription of -0.25 (20/20 vision – compared to -1.75 pre surgery) and my right eye is -0.75 (from -3.75!) I’m 100% happy with the service at London Eye Centre in New Westminster, BC. I would highly recommend PRK eye surgery!

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  1. Tracey says:

    This is very convincing! Sounds pretty painless. (I’m a huge wuss when it comes to procedures)
    Definitely thinking about this option now.

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I’m Jamie! I capture joyful wedding and portrait photos that feel like you—through easy, natural posing. Since 2008,  I've photographed over 270 weddings and nearly 300 family sessions and it’s a joy to spend my career capturing natural, joyful images!

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