After my PRK eye surgery on Tuesday, my mother drove me home. I didn’t feel much of anything at this point. The valium that I had taken, mixed with the high levels of adrenaline my body had used, made me very relaxed and exhausted. So the painkiller and the sleeping pill that I was prescribed to take felt a little unnecessary. And after taping the eye shields onto my face (a rather unattractive look), they definitely did make me fall asleep quickly and deeply. The rest of the day after my eye surgery then was uneventful, painless and spent sleeping.
The next day I woke up and had to go directly to the eye surgeon because the follow-up appointment was for 8:15! My fiancé had to shepherd me again because I definitely was not ready to drive. I wore the dark sunglasses that the eye surgery center had given me the day before, and the sun still felt too bright. So I kept my hands over the shades to help with the light sensitivity. The doctor then looked at my eyes very closely with a bright light. You can guess how great that felt! The follow-up appointment took only about five minutes.
A few hours passed, and I felt pretty great for having had eye surgery the day before. The doctor had tested my vision at about 80/20, which was ten times better than my 800/20 vision before the PRK eye surgery! As you have probably ascertained, these results from PRK eye surgery are very different than from LASIK eye surgery. LASIK creates very quick results with no pain, but for the steep slope of the lower part of my cornea and my young age (21), PRK was the eye surgery recommended for me. But of course, you’ll need to talk to your eye surgeon to figure out which eye surgery is best for you.
Wednesday then, I just laid around the house and watched bad TV and movies and slept a lot. The only real complaint I had on the day after PRK eye surgery was that the painkillers that were prescribed to me made me vomit frequently. I have a sensitive stomach so this happens often with painkillers for me, so don’t expect this to happen to you.
On the second day, Thursday, I woke up wishing I would just die. The staff had told me that I should expect the pain to get worse before it got better, but this was a shock! Since I have never given birth nor broken a bone, this was my first experience with real pain! And I didn’t want to take any of my painkillers since they made me sick. And for some reason, my right eye hurt much worse than the other, I was worried there was something wrong with it. I had another follow-up appointment that morning. This time not only were my eyes sensitive to the light, but it just hurt. The doctor then did the same eye exam with the bright light, oh goodness! The left eye felt irritation at this test, but the right felt sharp pain when the doctor tried to open the eyelids farther. My fiancé (acting as my driver again) then asked the doctor to prescribe a different painkiller, and the new one worked fine.
I basically tried to keep my eyes closed as much as possible on Thursday. I didn’t do much watching of anything because it tired me out to open my eyes for longer than twenty or so minutes. I slept as much as possible too, hoping the day would go by quicker. The thought that the next day was supposed to get better kept me going as well. I must advise you to be prepared for the pain resulting from PRK eye surgery. The doctor said that the pain can vary from mild to more extreme, mine being closer to extreme than mild.
The next day, Friday, was so much better! I had to wait until 4pm for the next appointment and I couldn’t wait! The contact bandages that they had placed over my corneas after the surgery made my eyes feel so dry. If you have ever worn your contacts for too long, that’s exactly how it felt. However, the pain was almost completely gone. My vision seemed stronger, just blurry. I am amazed at the amount of pain that I had on Thursday with almost a complete lack of it the next day. I tried to watch some of my Netflix, but I only had subtitled movies! Of course! So instead, I listened to the radio and cleaned my house. I didn’t do the best job, but for once I could blame my eyesight!
Once I was driven to the eye surgeon’s office (I still didn’t feel I should drive and neither did the doctor), he once again looked at my eyes with the same blinding light and this time it didn’t hurt so much. He then decided that the contacts could be removed. Oh it felt so good! My vision had improved by then too because there was so much protein build-up on the contacts. I was about 60/20, not yet safe to drive as it is state law to be 40/20 or better.
Saturday and the next few days I was able to go to work, but I did wear my sunglasses indoors because I still had light sensitivity. Luckily, I didn’t have to work with customers, I was able to sit in the back and get work done there. I would recommend trying to take four or five days off just give yourself some wiggle room and recovery time. And don’t expect to be able to read even if you were able to before the surgery! I don’t know why I thought I would be able to get all my reading assignments done after having eye surgery, but I did. I was difficult for me to read probably even after my regular vision became better. And your eyes will get tired if you strain them overly or too often.
The next few weeks were exciting, and you’ll be able to read about them in my next installment, PRK Eye Surgery Part IV. If you have missed anything previous to this installment, check out my previous ones: PRK Eye Surgery Part I and Part II.
