Mark's Eye Surgery

Mark had eye surgery yesterday. It was pretty cool, I got to be with him the whole time and even watch it (on tv in the next room) as it happened. Sorry I didn't take my camera with me when I went, I just had my cell phone camera and it takes pretty lousy pictures. Below is a kind of long description of the surgery and the day yesterday. Hooray for no more glasses or contacts!!!!

What kind of eye surgery?

Well, it might be called "Lasik," but that's not actually the right name. Lasik is a different procedure. Mark had "PRK," which stands for photorefractive keratectomy. It is the forerunner to Lasik. And, it has some benefits that seem to outweigh Lasik, especially in the case of Mark's eyes. The doctor checked Mark's eyes twice before yesterday and then again before doing the surgery.

Mark's doctor told us that he prefers PRK to Lasik, and that in fact, he had had PRK done on his eyes instead of Lasik.

PRK takes longer to recover from, as it is more invasive. The doctor actually scrapes away part of the eye before the laser is used. That was actually the only gross part for me--knowing that I was watching Mark's eye be scraped off. They compare it to getting a really bad rug burn on your skin. They said that it'll itch and that it'll take a while to heal, but it isn't all that bad.

Mark had his surgery at the University of Utah's Moran Eye Center, even though Mark despises the U. Why the U? Because I'm kind of an employee there, so we get a discount. And, they are very reliable, so that's good too. His doctor is Mark Mifflin.

Mark hasn't really had much pain yet. That's good. I stayed home with him all day yesterday in case he did need me for something. I helped him do his eye drops (he had to do three medications and then some tear substitutes) throughout the day. He also got to wear these groovy hard clear patches (so I wouldn't poke his eyes out). He's at home today too, still hiding out in the dark of our home. The funny thing about the eye patches is that he's supposed to wear them when he sleeps so he won't lay on his eyes, so he won't rub his eyes, and so I won't accidentally do something to his eyes. But, Mark poked my eye on accident last night in bed!

He's been a really good sport (especially with me since I took pictures of him with goop on his eyes and such). I'm really excited for him to have his eyes heal and for the vision to come completely back. He already can see fine, but it's not perfect. And, his vision actually might go fuzzy again, as the skin comes back over the retina. I'm excited because he's wanted his eyes "fixed" for a long time and he finally had the chance.

I took him in to see Dr. Mifflin this morning for a post-op check-up. Dr. Mifflin said Mark is already healing and that it all looks good. He said Mark's eyes are about 25% healed, which is about right.

The doctor told us they record all their surgeries, for quality assurance, for records, and for equipment satisfaction. Probably other reasons too. He said they used to give their patients a copy of their eye surgery video, but they don't any more. There are YouTube videos of PRK. Below is a copy of an actual PRK surgery.