{"id":9658,"date":"2026-01-20T12:31:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T12:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/soleyes.es\/?p=9658"},"modified":"2026-01-20T12:38:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T12:38:26","slug":"prk-or-lasik-choosing-well-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/soleyes.es\/en\/eye-surgery\/refractive-surgery\/prk-or-lasik-choosing-well-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"PRK or LASIK: choosing well matter"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221; woodmart_inline=&#8221;no&#8221; text_larger=&#8221;no&#8221;]<\/p>\n<h1>PRK or LASIK: choosing well matters<\/h1>\n<p><strong>PRK<\/strong> was widely used for years. Although LASIK became dominant, modern <strong>transepithelial PRK<\/strong>\u2014where the laser removes the epithelium and performs the ablation in a single no\u2011touch step\u2014has brought PRK back to the front line by reducing manipulation, infection risk and improving stability and reproducibility.<\/p>\n<h2>Be upfront with patients<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>PRK can be painful for 24\u201336 h<\/strong> post\u2011op.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Visual recovery is slower<\/strong> (\u22482\u20134 weeks) vs LASIK.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Therefore, PRK is not ideal when <strong>very rapid recovery<\/strong> is required.<\/p>\n<h2>Corneal haze today<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cHaze\u201d used to be a classic concern. With a <strong>tailored mitomycin\u2011C<\/strong> (MMC) protocol according to ablation depth, it has become <strong>uncommon<\/strong>, and when it appears, it is usually manageable. Contemporary evidence supports MMC as <em>anti\u2011haze<\/em> prophylaxis in higher\u2011risk cases without compromising endothelial density when used briefly at standard concentration.<\/p>\n<h2>What about LASIK?<\/h2>\n<p><strong>LASIK (especially femtosecond LASIK)<\/strong> remains excellent thanks to its <strong>fast recovery<\/strong>. Still, the most feared complications are <strong>flap\u2011related<\/strong>; femtosecond lasers greatly <em>reduce<\/em> these risks but do not eliminate them.<\/p>\n<h2>My personal tip<\/h2>\n<p>In <strong>low\u2011to\u2011moderate myopia (\u2248 \u22121.50 to \u22123\/\u22124 D)<\/strong>, I often prefer <strong>PRK<\/strong>. I honestly tell patients it is the technique I would choose for myself within this range. The key is not the \u201cnewest\u201d method, but the <strong>best\u2011indicated one for each eye and each patient<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Considering surgery? See our <a href=\"https:\/\/soleyes.es\/en\/eye-surgery\/\">eye surgery<\/a> (refractive options included) and <a href=\"https:\/\/soleyes.es\/en\/book-online\/\">book online<\/a>.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<section class=\"post-eaat medical\" aria-label=\"Medical review\">\n<h2>Medical review<\/h2>\n<p>Content reviewed by <strong>Dr. Antonio Soler Garc\u00eda<\/strong>,<br \/>\nMedical Director at <a href=\"https:\/\/soleyes.es\/en\/\">Soleyes Fuengirola<\/a>.<br \/>\n<strong>Medical licence (Spain):<\/strong> 292907906<\/p>\n<p><strong>Updated:<\/strong> 20\/01\/2026<\/p>\n<h3>Disclaimer<\/h3>\n<p>This article is educational and <strong>does not replace<\/strong> personalised medical advice.<br \/>\nIf you have symptoms or questions, please <a href=\"https:\/\/soleyes.es\/en\/book-online\/\">book an appointment<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221; woodmart_inline=&#8221;no&#8221; text_larger=&#8221;no&#8221;] PRK or LASIK: choosing well matters PRK was widely used for years. Although LASIK became dominant,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9657,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[143],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-refractive-surgery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/soleyes.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/soleyes.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/soleyes.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soleyes.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soleyes.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9658"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/soleyes.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9660,"href":"https:\/\/soleyes.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9658\/revisions\/9660"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soleyes.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/soleyes.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soleyes.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soleyes.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}