Things They Don't Tell You About PRK Laser Eye Surgery
You will be incredibly thirsty and dehydrated after the surgery so drink LOTS of water.
Do not wear your contact lenses at least a week before your surgery.
What I brought to the surgical center:
My mother - since she’s my designated driver and emotional support wing-woman
A teddy bear to hold
A hat
Comfy clothes (Zipped up jacket and sweats!) and absolutely no perfume/makeup
Clean tissue papers (In case my eyes wear tearing up)
How I calmed myself down - my surgeon didn’t give me any valium since he said I didn’t need it so instead, while he was operating on my eyes, I did my deep breathwork which helped me mellow out and I was as calm + still as I ever could be
The surgery itself lasts no longer than eight minutes! (Although it feels so much shorter than that) I was in and out. If anything, the surgery was the easy part….now the recovery process was something else ;)
Here are my eye stats. No one asked for them but here it goes:
I have nearsightedness and astigmatism and have been wearing glasses since I was 4 years old
After conducting some tests, I learned that my cornea is thin so that makes me a great candidate for PRK vs Lasik
Left eye: -4.00 | Right eye: -3.50
Leading up to the surgery, I took fish oil pills (3000 mg a day), loaded myself on my vitamins, and again, drank a lot of water.
Download your favorite podcasts! Try to rest your eyes and not use your phone, laptop, computer, etc. I loved catching up on all of my finance, true crime, and business podcasts.
If you’re not a contact wearer and your vision is bad like mine then this will be the first time you’ll get to see your face in HD in a very, very long time. It took me about 3 weeks to get used to looking at my face in the mirror. Sometimes I don’t even recognize her :o and after reading every Reddit thread possible, I realized no one has talked about this!
Everyone’s recovery is different but Day 2 Post-Op for me was the worst - 7/10 pain. My surgeon said it’s important to keep the pain manageable but if it’s not then I can call him anytime. Stubborn me did not want to call him at 9:00 PM #boundaries and sucked it up and weather the pain myself so please don’t do that!
ARTIFICIAL TEARS are your besties! You cannot overdose on them so please use them!
For about a week post-op, I used them once every hour.
Also, fun tip, it feels nice when you put it in the fridge and remember to use the preservative-free ones!
Do NOT and I repeat…DO NOT rub your eyes!
The recovery is slow and steady. Every day, I can see clearer and clearer but it took me about a full four weeks before I could see 20/20. Be patient with yourself!
During the first two weeks of recovery, I wore sunglasses everywhere! Inside the house, outside, in the shower….(to prevent water from getting into my eyes)
How about working out?! I started to do light exercise 7-days post-op
What about makeup? I stopped wearing makeup for about two weeks just to be safe but kept up with my entire skincare routine each day. Micellar water + reusable cotton pads are incredible.
How many days can you take off work? I submitted 3 days of PTO (mind you, I am fortunate in a sense that a majority of my work is conducted at home) but ended up requesting an additional day to rest and I’m sooooo happy I did! Please do not push yourself. If your work requires you to be physical, I would take at least 5 days off. I also made sure to push out any client appointment for at least two weeks to give myself that time to recover.
The first day of work was rough. My eyes felt strained after twenty minutes of looking at my excel sheets and I had a lot of light sensitivity so I enlarged the text on my phone/computer screen!
