Fundementelly Different Laser Eye Surgeries

There are two fundamentally different Laser eye surgery - PRK and LASIK. These two catagory has more modification or subcategories under themselves.

PRK stands for Photorefractive Keratectomy and Lasik is for Laser-Assisted in-situ Keratomileusis.

PRK involves a surface ablation technique to remove the cornea's outermost layer - epithelium, and an excimer laser reshapes tissues located on the underlying of the cornea. Afterwards the epithelium layer must grow back. PRK is an option for those with thin corneas where the creation of a cornea flap by cutting is undesirable.

LASIK uses a microkeratome metal blade to cut a cornea flap and an excimer laser to reshape the eye. After the procedure, the flap is returned to its position. This is painless for most patients, and unlike PRK techniques, vision is immediately corrected, though some blurriness may be present for the first 24 hours and vision improves within few weeks.