Many of our ptients have come in asking what makes our procedure different from a PRK since in both procedures the skin is removed. To put it simply, LASEK is virtually painless compared to a PRK.

There is virtually no pain or discomfort with our LASEK procedure. For patients that elect to have the older PRK surgery, there is immense pain for up to a week or more after surgery. While both procedures don’t cut flaps, in a PRK the skin is sanded it off, which uses a much more abrasive force than the gentler LASEK procedure.

Rather than using a softening solution to allow the skin to loosen, a PRK procedures opt to remove the skin right away. PRK procedures use a small sander to sand the skin off to reach the cornea. The result of this force is that patients experience intense pain and heal slower than with the LASEK procedure.