Friday, November 9, 2012

first week after PRK, aka dropping them drops

so perhaps i was way too excited after my surgery. i thought, meh, i must be tougher than i thought because this is a breeze. no pain....

day two

i walked into the day after follow up around noon feeling just fine.

a few hours later, im thinking holy crap, this shit does hurt.

that night, i realized that it wasnt going to be a breeze. my eyes started to hurt significantly more than before. i took a couple of advils, i took the nerve medication they gave me and honestly, only a couple glasses of wine seem to help. yeah, terrible i know, so shoot me.

i was very much on the dot with all the medication and antibiotic and anti inflammatory drops i was prescribed, but in hindsight, i did one thing very wrong.

i was told i could use one drop of rewetting drops per four hours to help after the surgery. i shouldve clarified this bit. i can use as many drops as i wanted to. i only used one drop every four hours the first two days and that was my mistake. i started to use the rewetting drops once every 30 minutes and the pain was reduced dramatically.



one note on the rewetting drops. i chose to buy these two small pocket size bottles of SUSTAIN ULTRA eye drops. these are just fine, but, with further research, i found out that the "single use" version of this is better. the bottles have some sort of preservative, even the "sensitive" version has preservatives. the "single use" ones dont. the "single use" ones obviously have more than two drops in them, more like 6...heres something that isnt so obvious, the part you break off, its also a cap. i uses all 6 drops, but dont use these longer than a day. remember, no preservatives. last thing you want is an eye infection because you used old eye drops. also remember, though you have a cap, its not waterproof. it will spill in pocket if not carried properly.

my eyes started to get the "third day PRK haze" one eye more than the other, than both eyes... at one point i couldnt make out thing right in front of me. now i understand when they suggest to do nothing for three days. you will need at least a couple days to recover from the hazy eyes.

i stayed on a strict regiment of all the different eye drops. i made sure to rest up when i could and i no time at all, my eye sight started to get normal again, well normal for being without my contacts or glasses.

a day or two later, my vision was better than before the surgery.

my second follow up, they removed the "bandage" a clear no prescription contact lens and i was right back to recovery mode.

a week later, im looking out my office window and i can see just as good as i could before with my glasses. except for the small hangup about the rewetting drops and the annoying factor when showering (remember you cant rub your eyes), this was easy.

i am very excited

(part three will be after my last follow up appoint, one month from now)

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for posting this. I have wanted eye surgery for awhile now. I went in for a consult a few months back and discovered I also need PRK due to thin corneas and a bigger prescription. Can you share what your prescription was prior to surgery? Also, I have read all kinds of horror story's about people not being able to see "normal" until 6 months after surgery. have you experienced any of that? You don't know me, but your respose will help me feel more confotable with my decison. thanks in advace.

    -Chris

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  2. Chris,

    i too have heard all sorts of horror stories, in fact i know one person who lives with halos at night and one who is blind in one eye... however, we all believe this is due to the fact they both got their procedures done very early on when this technology was just coming out.

    my vision was not too bad before the surgery, just annoying enough to bother me when i didnt have my contacts on. -3.75 in both eyes.

    it is week two since my surgery and for the most part i see as good if not better then when i used to wear my contacts. my vision does fluctuate from hour to hour, especially when i am tired. i can not look at a computer screen for more than an hour at a time, and sometimes i cant read my iphone. apparently this is pretty normal as your corneal layer is still healing. my vision was not too bad to start with, so even on the worst days, i can still see fairly well. i ccan imagine it will be much tougher if your vision was much worse to start with.

    my personal opinion, so far it has totally been worth it. the pros have completely and utterly out weighed the cons for me.

    if you have any more questions or concerns, dont hesitate to ask!

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  3. coming soon! been super busy, but this week, promise.

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