I had surgery last Thursday. The right eye was Lasiked and seemed fine, although I can't say the vision is even close to 20/20, now 5 days later. It feels like I can't read signs clearly that are 12 feet in front of me. I know vision takes time to stabilize but doesn't it get closer to 20/20 sooner and then refine itself?

The second eye had a flap problem, my doctor cut it three separate times with IntraLase and could not get the flap up. That eye is now blurrier than original. Should I be worried that it was permanently damaged from being cut three times? Is it permanent blurrines due to corneal damage?

He now recommends PRK for that second eye (prescription of -8). Isn't PRK risky at that myopia level? (Hazing, etc). Please help- I'm quite panicked...

Thank you.

I wouldn't panic, B. Although no one can accurately diagnose your situation without actually examining you, from what you state, it sounds like you should be okay. With respect to your OD eye, it is not unusual for vision to fluctuate or even regress slightly for the first few days post op. This is usually due to a slight edema which induces a mild pseudo-myopic effect until it resolves. This post-op edema is particularly common when the flap is cut with the IntraLase FS laser because the closely-spaced microbubbles the laser makes to create the flap interface leave a rougher interface surface than that produced by a blade. This should resolve within a few days to a week or so, and your vision should return to "normal" in your OS eye, and things should crisp up and get at, or near, 20/20 in your OD eye. As for PRK in your OS eye, you raise some good points. A -8 D Rx is at some risk for visually significant haze and regression with surface ablation (PRK/LASEK/Epi-LASIK). This is particularly true when done over a LASIK flap (even an incomplete one, as in your case). Nowadays, some docs use intra-op Mitomycin-C to avert this, but this is a very powerful, potentially dangerous antimetabolite drug whose long-term effects with such usage are unknown (but which potentially include flap melt). If you want more info on this you can do a Google search on Mitomycin-C; a fair amount has been written about it by m.d.'s and researchers. So, anyway, I think your current problems will shortly resolve, B, and you can carefully research and decide how you want to proceed with your OS eye.

Bryce Carlson