PRK - Delayed Symptoms ??

[mullgan]

Hi,

I had PRK laser surgery on my left eye 3 weeks ago. All went well apart from the usual few days of pain afterwards and a little bit of drowsiness which went away after the first week (down to my brain adjusting). After that things were progressing nicely with my vision.

This morning (around 5:00 am) I woke with my eye lid "tearing" off my eye from dryness. I had that gritty, burning, and stininging sensation and I quickly got up and put drops into it... All day in work now I keep having to put my artelac drops in to allevaite the discomfort.

Can dry eye just come on 3 weeks post surgery? I assumed it was something you got almost immediately following surgery that would eventually(fingers crossed) clear.
As I said I didn't have any symptoms of dry eye up to today.

Hope somebody has an answer. Thanks.

[Guest]

Mullgan

Welcome to the board.

The symptoms you described are not uncommon at all.

The worst of my dryness probably came on about 2 - 3 weeks post surgery.

What you are experiencing sounds to me like an abrasion or corneal erosion and in my opinion, something that should be taken up and discussed with your surgeon.

It sounds to me that you need some thicker night time protection like Dwelle, Clinitas Ultra 3, Viscotears, Genteal Gel, there are loads of them, but I've given you a few product names to search by.

You could also benefit from searching the forum for the term RCE (Recurrent Corneal Erosion), corneal abrasion or corneal erosion.

I would certainly be going back to the surgeon to discuss this and get it noted on your chart.

Regards and again welcome.

Ian

[mullgan]

Thanks you for your prompt reply.

I have a checkup appointment booked already with my surgeon on the 3rd of October so I will check with him then.

Is this generally something that will go away with time or will I have to live with it ?

[Guest]

Mullgan

It is difficult to tell. All I can do is tell you what happened with me.

I and few here are medically trained, we are a support group for each other and our comments are generally based on personal experiences.

I think you need a diagnosis from your DR and that will then give you a better understsanding of 1. what it is and 2. how best to deal with it.

It is likely that if it is one of the laser eye factories they will have little suggestion on how to deal with it as you will be a unique case (believe me many of us have had the same script read to us).

Once you've been to your DR, you will be in a better position to understand what it is.

For some, RCE's are more common after LASEK than LASIK (so my DR told me).

For some, they don't even experience them, for some they are a temporary glitch and gone within no time, for others (such as myself - I still have RCE's nearly 3 years after my surgery). I don't want to alarm you though, we are all different and the RCE's I experience today are far less painful than those toe curlers in the early days.I remember some of my early ones having vision altering (albiet temporary) effects.

The problem is that in the early days you you tend to worry about every little step and wonder like heck that it is going to be there for ever and that your vision is going to be effected, for many many people, this is not the case.

I still think you could benefit from some nighttime protection like a gel, I would avoid the ointments out there - have a hunt around here and you will see why.

I too had no dryness prior to my surgery, however, the surgery then upsets everything and symptons unknown or thought about come to a head after surgery.

You are absolutely right to have a follow up appointment, my only concern is that it is likely the erosion will be healed by 3/10. I found that whenever i had an erosion in the early days, I was onto the surgery demanding an emergency appointment to put my mind at rest and to have my file accurately reflect my case.

Some of my early erosions resulted in the requirement of a bandage contact lens as a precautionary and healing benefit.

I wish you well and hope this settles for you soon.

Ian