TransPRK is a refractive procedure and therefore, you have to go through a battery of tests to see whether you are suitable for corneal surgery to correct your shortsightedness and astigmatism. These tests will require about 4 hours for adequate completion. The tests are important to:
After you have chosen your date for surgery, it is easy to prepare for TransPRK. Like in all patients going for refractive surgery, you have to be off soft contact lenses for at least 2 days. If your contact lenses are toric (fitted for astigmatism), you have to stop wearing your contact lenses for at least 4 days. If you wear rigid gas permeable lenses, you should not wear your contact lenses at least 2 weeks before surgery.
Any dry eyes should be treated before surgery as patients with chronic dry eyes will have slower healing of the epithelium. If your pre-existing dry eye problem is not treated, the epithelium cannot slide and grow underneath the thin bandage contact lens that you will be wearing after surgery. There are many techniques to improve your dry eyes and even though the risk of dry eyes is less in TransPRK compared to LASIK, the best way to prevent problems is to pre-treat your dry eyes with special eyedrops like cyclosporine eyedrops.
Two days prior to surgery, you will be given 2 types of eyedrops to apply 4 times a day to your eye. These eyedrops contain antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. This is to prevent infections and inflammation of the cornea.
At Jerry Tan Eye Surgery, we take great effort and care to prevent any risk to your eyes. This is why we recommend performing TransPRK and all other types refractive surgery one eye at a time. After the first eye is healing well, surgery for the second eye can be scheduled for TransPRK.
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