PRK – 5 Weeks Later
Wow. This past week has shown drastic improvements in my vision. Last week I was finished with the steroid drops. A few days after that, and all of a sudden I started seeing noticeably better. It has improved even until today.
This morning I had my 5 week eye checkup. The eye doctor did the standard wall chart thing, and I managed to read the 20/20 line with each eye separately! That’s a huge step! The vision is still far from perfect, but at the core of the smudgy blurriness, I can see sharp letters. It took some effort to focus in on the letters, but I managed. It’s still better in my left than my right.
Things are much clearer, though I’d estimate my vision at about 80% of optimal. I’ve been able to go back to my standard font size on the computer. My vision is more stable throughout the day. It doesn’t fluctuate as much as it did in the past month. They’re still dry, but less dry than before, and the dryness doesn’t affect clarity as much as before.
I’m still using the eyedrops very liberally. I switched to normal rewetting drops as instructed, but after telling the doc how often I use eyedrops (on average, 1 to 2 per hour), she suggested that I go back to the preservative free drops for most of the time. Apparently the preservatives can cause some discomfort in some people, although I haven’t really noticed a difference. She said the dryness is normal and will decrease in the coming weeks and months.
Overall, I’m very, very pleased with where I’m at today. After spending the last 5 weeks in varying levels of blurriness, the bubble in which I’ve been living has been greatly expanded. Imagine the first time you saw a high def TV compared to the static-laced black-and-white of yesterday. It’s that much of a difference. And the great thing is that it is going to improve, with a very good chance of getting better than 20/20 vision.
I am so happy to hear that your vision is getting better. I had my PRK done 1 week ago and I was so worried about my vision. I had explained to the clinic I was a law clerk and all I do all day is read case law and research and they assured me by now I would be fine reading again. Of course I’m not. I can read for about 3 hours with the font at a huge size and then my eyes become so tired that I can’t see anything at all for the rest of the day.
I hope you keep updating us of your improvements. This has really made me feel a lot better.
Your blog has helped me a lot. I am having my PRK done in 4 days and now at leaset I know what to expect. I must admit I had no idea there was such a long recovery period. Now that I know, I won’t have such high hopes. Thanks again for sharing your experience.