PRK VS. iLASIK Vision Correction
If you’ve ever heard of LASIK, you know it’s a medical procedure that uses a laser to correct your vision. But LASIK is not the only kind of laser vision correction procedure there is. There’s also photorefractive keratectomy or PRK.
PRK was the first laser surgery designed to improve vision by correcting the shape of the eye. There’s also iLASIK, which is an even more advanced LASIK procedure.
Both PRK and iLASIK are offered at Berg-Feinfield Vision Correction. But what’s the difference between them?
Laser Vision Correction
With both LASIK and PRK, an excimer laser reshapes the cornea. Refractive errors like nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism occur through light refraction.
When light refracts through the eye, it’s meant to hit one spot on the retina. Refractive errors occur if the shape of your cornea is incorrect.
By using a laser, a surgeon can remove areas of the cornea and reshape the cornea. By reshaping the cornea, any refractive errors are permanently corrected.
PRK
With PRK, the protective layer of the cornea called the epithelium gets removed. After the epithelium removal, the surgeon uses the laser to reshape the cornea.
Afterward, the eye heals and regenerates the epithelium. While the epithelium heals, your eye is vulnerable and needs great care.
iLASIK
Instead of removing the epithelium, LASIK reshapes the cornea by making a flap. This flap is made with a femtosecond laser. After flap creation, the flap is then lifted up.
This allows the area under the flap to be reshaped with the excimer laser. After the procedure, the flap is replaced and left to fuse back to the rest of the cornea. Because the flap acts as a natural bandage, the recovery time for LASIK is faster than PRK recovery.
Because Berg-Feinfield Vision Correction uses iLASIK, innovative wavefront technology maps your eye. This is a custom map of your eye, allowing the most precise measurements.
Like your fingerprint, your eyes have a prescription that’s unique to only you. iLASIK is more accurate, with most patients ending up with better than 20/20 eyesight!
Why Would You Get PRK?
If iLASIK exists, why get PRK? To get LASIK, your cornea must be thick enough for creating a flap. When creating the flap, a small amount of corneal tissue gets removed.
If your corneas are too thin, removing corneal tissue could result in complications. LASIK is an amazing procedure, but it’s not safe or right for everyone.
This is why procedures like PRK are so important! With PRK, the thickness of your cornea doesn’t matter. This is because the cornea doesn’t get reshaped.
Instead, the epithelium layer of the cornea is removed. If you don’t qualify for LASIK because of corneal thickness, you could qualify for PRK instead!
Considering LASIK? Find out if it’s right for you by contacting Berg Feinfield Vision Correction! We can schedule an evaluation at one of our locations in the Beverly Hills area.
Don’t you owe it to yourself to have the vision you’ve always dreamed of? With a LASIK consultation, you can start a visual journey and be on your way to clear vision!
