PRK VS LASIK

PRK or photorefractive keratectomy is a refractive surgical procedure that is done in order to change the shape of the cornea. PRK was the foremost surgery to change to shape of the cornea, reshaping by making use of a laser. LASIK was developed at a later stage. A lot times the same laser is made use for both kinds of surgical procedure.

The major differentiation between the 2 surgical procedures is the way the stroma, which is the cornea's middle layer, is uncovered prior the laser being use to vaporize it. In PRK, the cornea's top most layers, known as the epithelium, is scraped off in order to uncover the layer beneath the stroma. Whereas in LASIK surgery, a flap is incised in the layer of stroma and then it is folded back.

Given are some details which will give more information about the differentiation between LASIK and PRK.

PRK vs. LASIK surgical procedure

LASIK:

• Needs the surgical instrument known as microkeratome to cut the flap in the cornea.
• Doesn't need any stitches. The flap is kept in its position by the patient's natural eye pressure.
• The patient needs to use eye drops for maximum duration of a week and then he can go back to taking up normal activities in 3 days time.
• The handicap of LASIK is that it needs one more surgical procedure in order to cut the flap. The surgical procedure takes lesser than one minute to do and it is painless as well.

PRK:

• Involves removing the epithelium, which is the topmost layer of the cornea. This uncovers the inner layers of the cornea, which is sculpted back by the laser according to the eye's curvature.
• Doesn't need any cut or needles.
• There happens to be a minute threat of problems occurring from the fluctuating curative response or any infection. Generally these can be taken care of with medicines.
• Patients in general take medicines to get relief for around one to two days after the surgery. This is because of the reason that majority of the corneal pain fibers are surface area of the eye and in the process of PRK, these get affected during the surgical procedure and the process of healing.