Does PRK (photorefractive keratotomy) yield similar results?
— Stephan Edwards, San Diego PRK was the first laser procedure approved, and still gives excellent results. With PRK, we don’t make a flap; we take the surface skin (epithelial layer) off the cornea. You can take this layer of cells off by rubbing it or loosening it with alcohol, and then you apply the laser to the next layer. The laser part of the surgery is exactly like Lasik. Then you put a bandage contact lens on to protect the eye while this epithelial layer grows back, and the eye has the same chance of good vision as with Lasik. It’s a little bit safer than Lasik because there’s no flap, but the reason we don’t do that operation more often is it takes longer for the eye to heal, and there’s more discomfort in those initial three days than with Lasik. The Navy uses PRK on its pilots, but not Lasik. The thinking is if you have to be ejected from a plane, the forces that might hit the eye could displace the flap. But other military people can have either LASIK or PRK. I had radial
