Differences Between LASIK and PRK

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Brandon, Mississippi, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) February 24, 2012 -- Seeing clearly can be achieved with more vision procedures than ever before. LASIK and PRK have provided improved vision for hundreds of thousands of patients, and each procedure can address different surgical needs of the patient. While LASIK and PRK yield similar visual outcomes, the two techniques have slightly different procedural steps.
Procedural Distinctions
PRK and LASIK are vision correction procedures that improve vision impaired by:
• Nearsightedness
• Farsightedness
• Astigmatism

Both procedures use a laser – called an "excimer" laser – to reshape the cornea, so that the light entering your eye can focus correctly on your retina. In the LASIK procedure, an incision is made in your cornea with a microkeratome, a surgical instrument with an oscillating blade. The incision makes a hinged flap in the middle layer of your cornea, so the flap can be folded back to expose the deeper layers of cornea for laser reshaping. Because of this procedural step, LASIK is sometimes unsuitable for people with steep corneas.
Unlike LASIK, a corneal flap is not created in the PRK procedure. Instead, PRK uses surface ablation to expose the deeper layer of cornea. Instead of a blade, another laser is used to vaporize the outer surface of cornea cells (the outer layer of cells is called "epithelium"), and then the underlying cornea is modified with an excimer laser. After PRK, the epithelium grows back over time.
Both LASIK and PRK are completed in minutes and are outpatient procedures, so you will enter and leave the surgical facility in the same day.
Other Differences between PRK and LASIK

In numerous studies, the long-term visual outcomes of these procedures have been shown to be highly similar. Most patients achieve improved vision with PRK and LASIK, and some patients experience 20/20 vision or better.
Although long-term visual outcomes tend to be similar, it typically takes longer before you experience initial sharp vision from PRK. The healing period for PRK also may involve greater discomfort than LASIK recovery. Because the epithelial cells must grow back after PRK, this period of cell regeneration may cause some irritation and discomfort.

LASIK is often the procedure preferred by eye surgeons because visual results manifest quickly and recovery is relatively painless; however, PRK continues to be an effective alternative for people who are not LASIK candidates, including those with steep, thin corneas or large pupils. For very thin corneas, there may not be enough corneal tissue to create a LASIK flap. Large pupils sometimes cause those who receive LASIK to experience nighttime vision disturbances, such as halos around light sources.
To learn more about the distinctions and similarities between LASIK and PRK, please visit the website eyes.com to find an experienced ophthalmologist in your area.

http://www.eyes.com

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