PRK Surgery in Las Vegas & Henderson

When your LASIK surgery in Las Vegas is not an option for a patient we have multiple options including Photo Refractive Keratectomy (PRK) surgery. This procedure has been performed since before the advent of LASIK. Dr. Wellish has been performing PRK since 1994. PRK corrects vision by reshaping the cornea, much like LASIK. However, instead of creating a flap in the epithelium (the clear protective skin that covers the cornea), the epithelium is simply removed before laser is used to reshape the cornea. The epithelium grows back, usually in three to seven days. PRK doesn’t give patients the almost-instant results associated with LASIK, but the results are still amazing. For top LASIK in Las Vegas patients who have large pupils or thin corneas, PRK surgery is an excellent alternative.

PRK is typically reccommend for patients who are not a candidate for LASIK for their vision correction and who have thin or irregular corneas. The difference between this precedure and LASIK is that the reshaping is done on the outside surface of the cornea, rather than under a flap. Both are safe, and abundtantly accomplished procedures for laser vision correction.

PRK Recovery

LASIK is known to have virtually instant results in clear vision for the patient. In both PRK and LASIK, you can usually read a sign across the room immediately after the procedure. PRK however, has a slightly longer recovery time for a patient to se 20/20. Las Vegas ophthalmologist Dr. Wellish reccommends once PRK is complete that the patients recovery time and time off from work is two to four days depending on the case.

For the first few days after your procedure, you may experience discomfort, ranging from scratchiness, to actual pain; your vision may be blurry and/or may fluctuate between being clear and being blurry. Another common symptom is a patient’s vision improves immediately afterwards, but later becomes blurry. This can affect various patients differently; some may not be bothered, other patients may be more intolerant to the discomfort or lack of visual acuity.