Topper Harley's PRK surgery and financing.

[Topper Harley]

Hello all.
I understand that this post is a long one but it does contain all of the legitimate information that I was given and accumulated on my own research before getting my PRK surgery. If you have any questions at all then please post them or PM me and I will get the answer. This first post is mainly about financing so definitely read this when you can. Then next post is about the difference in PRK and lasik and the five different ways of doing PRK and my third post will be about my PRK surgery.
Enjoy.

Apply for PRK financing at www.carecredit.com

I, like many of you, have dreamed of being a Naval Aviator but have had the cloud of bad eyesight looming overhead. The Navy does allow waivers for those who wish to undertake PRK at their own expense. Keep in mind that PRK has been around since the late 1980's, a lot longer than lasik, and generally claims to have better long lasting results than lasik. However, it needs to be said that while neither procedure is painful, the recovery for PRK is painful and takes a very long time compared to lasik. Also lasik is much less expensive. Lasik rates that I have seen here in Tennessee range from $700 to $800 where as my PRK cost $4,200, however because I was having the surgery to join the Navy as a pilot, my surgeon took pity on me and gave me a $500 sort of military discount which brought my actual price to $3,700. With all of this in mind, if you really and truly want above all else to be a Naval Aviator and you need corrective eye surgery then PRK is the only way to achieve that goal I will give you some tips in just a second for getting the surgery paid for. However, if you feel that you may be just as happy as a surface warfare officer or in another field and they will allow for lasik, keep in mind that I'm not sure if they will accept surface warfare officers with lasik or not so speak with your officer recruiter. If they do allow for it then lasik may be the most practical option. Now for the financing. Most eye surgeons that can perform PRK will not accept insurance because it is an elective procedure so having insurance will not help you in this case. You can explain to the eye surgeon that you are having the surgery so that you can join the military as an aviator and they may give you a discount. I didn't know that they would but the nurse found out that I was joining the Navy and that was why I was having the surgery. She left for a second and then return with a paper to sign off on and she said he was going to give me a military discount so you may be as lucky as I was. The next thing that I would suggest is to go to your normal eye doctor to ask if you're a good candidate for PRK and if there is any surgeons in the area that they can suggest that would be good to perform the surgery. My eye doctor said I was a great candidate and suggested two different places in Knoxville, TN that could perform the surgery. He said that TN Valley Eye Center would be the better of the two. I called them both and decided on TN Valley Eye Center because they were very friendly and on the phone they were very knowledgeable. The other that I called, the person who answered the phone wasn't really sure what PRK was so I steered clear of them so definitely call around. When it came time for financing there is a few options: you could take out a personal loan but my bank only allowed for 48 months financing which isn't bad but it made my monthly payment $120. I have heard from people that you can take out money on your student loans but I never looked into it so anyone that has information about that, it would be great for you to post that on here as well. The option that I chose was called Care Credit. You can apply for a loan that will cover medical procedures that insurance will not. They offer 0& financing if you pay it off in a certain amount of time and they also offer low monthly payments with 13& financing, which is what my bank was offering for the percentage rate. that you can pay up to 60 months on. So with my $3,700 loan my monthly payments will be between $87 and $93 so not too shabby. They also don't have any penalties for paying more so when I get my income tax, I'll probably put it all toward the surgery. The best part about this is that because you are doing the surgery for another profession, you can write off the surgery on your taxes so looking forward to that next year.

 

[Topper Harley]

PRK vs. Lasik and the 5 different ways that PRK removes the cornea

Word to the wise: you can also find tons of videos on youtube that show you all of this procedures from start to finish.

There really is only one difference between lasik and PRK, other than the price and recovery time, and that is that with lasik there is a mechanical device that has a blade that creates a small flap in the cornea of the eye. They then fire the laser to adjust the shape of the retina so that light is focused on the correct point inside of the eye. They then close the flap and the cornea will heal that flap in about a day or so. THe patient should see their desired vision most likely by the end of the same day and sometimes they can see clearly immediately. PRK is different in that instead of using a mechanical blade to create a flap in the cornea, the cornea itself is removed. They then use the same laser to reshape the retina to allow light to focus at the correct point inside the eye. They then place contact lenses on the eyes to protect the retina. The body will then grow new corneas to replace the ones that were removed in about 3 to 5 days. After the cornea has regrown and the contacts have been removed by the eye doctor then it's just a matter of waiting. With PRK there is 5 different ways of removing the cornea. You should speak with the surgeon that will perform the surgery to inquire which way that they use so that you are comfortable. The first way that I have seen is a scraping tool that does just that. It scraps the cornea from the eye and then they use the laser to correct your vision. The second way I have seen looks kinda like an electric toothbrush which scratches away the cornea so that the laser can correct your vision. The third way is a chemical peel of the cornea. This is done by placing a small metal well on your eye around your cornea. The doctor then drips some alcohol on the cornea which softens the cornea and breaks it up enough that they can soak up the alcohol with a sponge and then using other sponges they will wipe away the cornea and then use the laser to correct your vision. The fourth way is called a Wave Front Guided PRK or WFG-PRK. With this, the surgeon will take an extra measurement of the eyes and then more of the cornea is removed. With my PRK they only removed 6.5 mm of the cornea but if I had done WFG-PRK then they would have removed 8 mm of the cornea. They remove the 6.5 mm by one of the other means but to get the 8 mm off my eye doctor stated that they would have used the alcohol to remove the rest. The good about WFG-PRK is that the results over a large test group show slightly fewer complications but the bad about WFG-PRK is that the recovery time takes longer and there is generally more discomfort. The last way and the way that my PRK was done was all laser PRK. With this way, the surgeon uses a different laser to kill the cornea and then a sponge is used to wipe away the cornea and then a different laser was used to correct my vision. None of these methods cause any discomfort during the actual procedure and all achieve about the same results.

 

[Topper Harley]

My PRK Surgery.

This is my actual surgery.

They made sure I didn't wear contacts for two weeks before the consult and during the consult I gave the doctor these guidelines that I found on NAMI's waiver guide.
Applicants:
1. May obtain PRK at their expense from civilian sources of care.
2. Pre-operative refractive error measured under cycloplegia must not exceed - 8.00 to +
3.00 (SE) and 3.00 diopters of cylinder.
3. Anisometropia should not exceed 3.50 diopters (using SE for each eye).
4. SNA applicants must meet refractive, cycloplegic, and vision standards postoperatively.
I would highly suggest you ask your doctor to make sure that you meet these requirements because if you don't then even with PRK, your waiver may not be accepted and you would have wasted time and money. So the doctor said that I easily meet the guidelines and then he shows me a video all about lasik, they didn't have one on PRK because so few people elect it over lasik. During the video it states all of the complications that can happen with PRK or lasik and there is a lot of them. Including overcorrection, under correction, making the vision worse, and blindness so be prepared. All of those side effects are rare but this is surgery so you need to be made aware to make an informed decision. So he schedules the surgery and I got the paper work for a short term leave of absence. I applied for Care Credit at www.carecredit.com and was approved with a co-signer and went the next morning for the surgery. They had a few bits of paperwork to finish up and then they rechecked the measurements of my eye one last time. They then gave me a sedative, which was a valiums. They gave it just a few minutes to start to work and then took me back to the surgery room. The laser is pretty large and there is a reclining chair like bed you lay in. They put a hair net on me and then put numbing drops into both of my eyes. After that they put tape over my eyelids and then put a metal spreader to keep me from blinking into my eye. The bed then rotates under the laser. The laser has an orange blinking light that you have to stare at and there is another bright light next to it that will be turned on aswell. They warned me that when it is first turned on it is loud and bright, which it was , just so that I won't jump when they turned it on. I was pretty nervous at this time and the doctor said that for all his patients he offers a prayer before surgery and asked if I wanted to do one. So I agreed and the doctor and his staff and me joined in a prayer and we began. They said it will fire for 24 seconds to remove the cornea. They counted down and it started. The 24 seconds felt like 5 seconds really and it stopped. The doctor then wiped away the cornea with a sponge. It was weird because I could see him touching my eye with the sponge but couldn't feel it. There was a smell. Everyone who has the surgery says there is a smell and it's kinda hard to describe. To me it was like burning hair and ham but your eyes may smell different after being fired at with a laser. After they have wiped away all of the cornea they told me that the laser will fire again for 18 seconds to correct my vision. Again they said to stare directly at the blinking orange light. It's a little harder than it sounds because of the smell and the loud noise. Also as the laser was correcting my vision everything was getting progressively blurry. When it was done the doctor placed a contact lens on my eye and then put in some eye drops. Immediately after my eyes were wetted by the eye drops my vision was better and no longer blurry. They repeated the same process with the other eye but I was moving my foot a little during the removing of the cornea and they told me not too be cause if you move a part of your body you also move your eye. You will have the urge to blink once you are out from under the machine but I highly encourage you to tough it out until the doctor says it's ok to blink and then blink very slowly so that the contact doesn't get bunched up. The entire surgery only took 7 or 8 minutes and after word the doctor checked his work with a device that shined light in my eyes. and he asked me to read a clock on the wall across the room from me and I was able to. They issued me some sun glasses and prescriptions as well as some eye drops for everything, including steroid drops. There will be two of those, some phenergan for nausea and hydrocodone for pain. After that they will schedule a check up date and you are free to go home. Now while you are recovering light will be the enemy. I was lucky because it began raining really hard when my surgery began and was over so it was very dark outside at 9 am when I left and I didn't leave the house for the first few days so light didn't bother me too much but I wore the sunglasses at all times, even while I slept. The best advice is to sleep as much as you can and try not to strain by reading or any watching tv if it hurts. Sleep will help the most.

 

[Topper Harley]

Day 2

Day 2

The next day it was a little hard to open my eyes and to move my eyes from left, right, or up and down. I attribute that to the contacts though and anyone who's ever slept in contacts will know what I'm talking about. Still sleeping most of the day and waking up just enough to take my medicine and use the eye drops like I was shown. The pain is pretty constant. I've heard it described as having a sun burn on the eye and I'd say that's pretty accurate. The worst part of it is that it is a constant pain. It doesn't really ease off. Like when you have someone touch a sunburn and it hurts for a second and then slacks off on the slacking off period never happens. But the more you sleep, the less you'll be awake to feel it. However, in other posts about the procedure everyone says use a cold compress to help relieve the pain and it does help so keep one handy. Other than that just sleep as much as you can. After the surgery I can see pretty well but my vision is going up and down but it hasn't gotten anywhere as bad as it was before the surgery which was 20/90 I believe. Already it was well worth the money and believe me, being nervous is going to happen but if you really want to become a Naval Aviator and need to have your vision corrected, don't let that fear stop you. Remember, it wouldn't be doing something great if you weren't afraid to do it.

 

[nugget61]

A bag of peas can go a long way for a cold compress. And reusable too.

FYI, I found it best to keep one of the rewetting canisters near my bed, where I could get it by feel - you'll wake up sometimes with your eyelids like sandpaper and a drop in the corner of the closed eye can get in, allowing you to work it around. Helps a lot if you have that problem.

 

[Topper Harley]

First Exam and Contacts out.

Just had my 5 day post op exam with the doc and he said that my eyes are healing very well and he was able to take the contacts out (huge relief and anyone who's had the surgery will back me up on that one.) He tested my eyes and I'm seeing a fuzzy 20/25 right now but assured me that it will continue to get better and fluctuate a little and reading on the other posts about how their vision fluctuated but did get better is reassuring. One thing you should discuss with your surgeon is the ability to take out the contacts and clean them on your own while you recover. My doc gave me the go ahead to clean them with contact solution if they were to fall out or get an eyelash or hair in them, however, some weren't told this. Check with your doc to see if it's fine with them or not. I'm about to leave and drive for the first time since the surgery to one of my night classes so that's exciting but haven't noticed any haloing or bursting around lights like others have discribed so I'm counting my self lucky. I have another appointment and exam in two weeks time and the doctor cut my steroid drops down to just one of the two, which was right as I ran out of the other, but still 4 drops per day. I will keep posting when I notice differences or if I come by any more prudent information. In the mean time feel free to post any questions about PRK or financing or anything like that and I will answer.

 

[kacraven]

It sounds like you were in school while you had this procedure - how's that working out? I need to get PRK done soon but I was thinking about waiting until summer cuz basically all my classes involve taking notes from the overhead projector ..

 

[Topper Harley]

True I am a student. It's working out really well. I work the full 40 hours a week and have 5 classes in 4 different counties but it's all really simple. What I did was get a temporary leave of absence form from work and the doctor filled that out and faxed it in so work was taken care of. If you have short-term disability a work then you may be able to be paid for the time it takes you to recoup which is around 4 to 5 days. I didn't sign up for short-term disability when I signed up for my insurance at work so what I did was scheduled the surgery close to my normal days off and I had some paid time off built up to make up for the couple of extra days it took. For school I only have classes monday through Thursday so I did miss my 3 classes on the thursday I had the surgery but by monday I was ready to return to class. Keep in mind that after the surgery, your vision will be pretty good. It might not be 20/20 but mine was pretty close to 20/30 or so and that's good enough to drive with and it's 20/25 now and still improving. Taking notes on the overhead projector really shouldn't be too much of a problem and you can move to a closer seat if you have to or even ask your professor to give you some printed off copies after you explain about the vision correction. They should understand but remember that the surgery is also for you and the service branch that your joining. Remember that there is a long wait before you are eligible for the waiver but if you have plenty of time on your hands and waiting until the summer won't make a difference for the wait for your waiver then that wouldn't be a bad choice but there is no pain and just minor discomfort after the surgery and your vision is really good afterwords pretty quickly so doing it now really wasn't a problem for me.

Hope that helps.

 

[nugget61]

It sounds like you were in school while you had this procedure - how's that working out? I need to get PRK done soon but I was thinking about waiting until summer cuz basically all my classes involve taking notes from the overhead projector ..

You'll be fine - most places do it on a Thursday, so you'll miss thurs afternoon and Friday only. You might be wearing glasses in class on Monday but you won't have any trouble. Unless you're having to write on the overhead (look directly into the bulb) you'll be fine.

 

[Topper Harley]

Eye Dryness.

Today was the first day that I've started having some dryness of my eyes (about 6 days post op) and man does it suck. I really wanted to post this because what you don't know might hurt your healing in the end. After PRK you should NOT! use regular eye drops like Clear Eyes or Visine because they use preservatives (which are bad). I was afraid of that so I had the fore-sight to call my eye doc and ask if I could use them or not because the wetting drops they give you are not very easy to take on the road with you. However, there is options that are preservative free like Thera-tears which is what I'm using and it's a HUGE help. Just wanted to let anyone considering PRK so that they don't make a slip up

 

[Topper Harley]

A little over a week after PRK.

So it's been a little over a week (had the surgery at 8 am on thursday 01/21/10) and my eyes are feeling pretty good. My eyesight is really good as well. I really can't tell a different from now and when I wore contacts and glasses. Granted that the surgery is expensive (average price is $4,200 for both eyes) but it is worth the price. Especially in the comfort factor of not having to deal with contacts that have to be taken out everyday and feel bad when you nap in them or constantly cleaning glasses. Will offer one word of advice though for after the surgery. Always keep the re-wetting drops with you. They really help with comfort and some of the other posts say that your vision will get a little worse as you get tired. I haven't really noticed that but one night when I thought my vision was fluctuating like it's supposed to I just put in some re-wetting drops and everything was better and clearer. Just keep the eyes wet and you'll see and feel alot better.

 

[scoolbubba]

I'm pretty jealous of you guys. I'm tired of contacts and glasses, and they are a liability in the plane. I need to get in a LASIK study as soon as this deployment is over.

 

[Topper Harley]

I'm pretty jealous of you guys. I'm tired of contacts and glasses, and they are a liability in the plane. I need to get in a LASIK study as soon as this deployment is over.

Really well worth it. Will the Navy allow you to do Lasik as opposed to PRK?

 

[scoolbubba]

Yep, there's a thread or two on the LASIK study.

 

[Topper Harley]

I tried searching around for more info on that. I hated how expensive PRK is ($4,200) as opposed to LASIK (something like $700) but I'm really happy with my results and the way my doc was talking about it too, he felt it was alot safer. Definitely good luck with your LASIK when you get back in. Hopefully after my waiting period and waiver I'll get to be a part of the Naval Aviation community too.