A Guide to Laser Vision Correction

PRK

Although you may not be a candidate for LASIK, the most popular refractive procedure performed today, you may be a candidate for a procedure known as photorefractive keractectomy, or PRK. This procedure delivers the same visual outcomes as LASIK and has dramatically improved the vision of millions of patients unable to undergo the LASIK procedure.

What is PRK?

Like LASIK, PRK is refractive surgical procedure which uses a laser to reshape the cornea. However, rather than creating a flap and then reshaping the deeper corneal layers, PRK uses the same excimer laser to sculpt directly on the surface layers of the cornea. You can think of PRK as LASIK without the flap. For mild to moderate myopia, only 5 to 10 percent of the thickness of the cornea is removed; for extreme myopia, about 30 percent of cornea thickness is removed. If you were to measure this tissue, its thickness would be that of one to three human hairs. The major benefit of PRK is that the structure of the corneal dome is retained. The PRK procedure also goes by several other names: LASEK (pronounced LAS-ECK), epi-LASIK, and surface ablation.

History of PRK »