Tuesday, January 13, 2009

PRK vs LASIK - How similar are they?

By John Parker

Many of my friends has used LASIK and have raved how it can help us achieve perfect vision. However, not many people have heard of the term Photorefractive Keratectomy (PRK). PRK is also a pretty well-practiced laser eye sugery that has been achieve the same success as LASIK for more than 2 decades.

So, we will compare PRK vs LASIK. What are the similiarities and the differences. After reading this, you will need to find out how to determine the best procedure for your eye surgery. This information here should be able to equip you with the right enlightenment so that you can converse with the eye surgeon more intelligently.

The similarities between PRK and LASIK:

1) Pain is not evident over the entire process

2) Both must apply eye medication after the surgery

3) Both need some months to recover from the surgery

4) Both are used to treat myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism

The interesting thing is that two of them have almost the identitial results in getting the 20/20 vision. Many people have achieve good vision with both procedures.

However, The interesting thing is that both have different procedures, but the identital outcome.

Now here are some differences:

1) Patients with certain corneal conditions or corneal scars have to undergo PRK, LASIK is not recommended

2) Lens "bandage" seems to be required after the sugery

3) LASIK has one more step which involves the generation of a flap

4) PRK does not need to create a flap, but go to the cornea's inner layers by taking out the thin outer layer of the cornea

5) LASIK tends heal faster than PRK

As you can see, there are some differences but in general both processes are safe. If you want to know which is better for you, you have to consult a good eye surgeon who is able to access your eyes to decide which is best for you. This article should equip you with some knowledge so that you are able to converse with an eye surgeon better. - 16492

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