What is Refractive Surgery?
Refractive Surgery is eye surgery meant to decrease or eliminate your need for glasses or contact lenses. Most commonly we think of this as “LASIK”, but there are many other types of refractive surgery, including PRK, ICL and Refractive Lens Exchange. It is vital to match the right type of refractive surgery to the specifics of your condition, including your age and the amount of nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism that your eyes have. Dr. Parekh is the only refractive surgeon in the area offering such a wide array of options.
PRK (Photo-Refractive Keratectomy)
PRK is also a procedure for low and moderate amounts of nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism.
The long-term outcomes of PRK and LASIK are similar; the key difference is that there is no flap creation in PRK. The same excimer laser is used for both LASIK and PRK.
PRK is less frequently used than in years past because of the development of LASIK. However, in some individual cases, PRK may still be the procedure of choice, especially for patients who are not candidates for LASIK. Even though the initial healing may take several days longer than that of LASIK the long term visual outcomes are the same.