Will PRK surgery correct both nearsightedness and farsightedness?

Question

I had lasik surgery 3 weeks ago and was told I was both nearsighted and farsighted. If PRK was performed, would that correct both nearsightedness and farsightedness as well as my astigmatism?

Mazin Yaldo, MD · Answer

It is impossible to be both nearsighted and farsighted
in the same eye.  It is like a
number being both positive and negative at once.  More likely, you were nearsighted with presbyopia.  Many people confuse presbyopia with
farsightedness.  Presbyopia is the
aging of the lens inside the eye which happens to all people in their 40’s, and
it causes a need for reading glasses. 
If you were nearsighted with presbyopia, and you had PRK, you would have
had two options with surgery.  One
would be a full correction of your nearsightedness in both eyes, to give you
excellent distance vision.  You
would remain presbyopic, and would need glasses for close work.  The second option would be monovision,
where the nearsightedness is fully corrected in one eye (usually the dominant
eye), and partially corrected the the other eye.  Leaving one eye slightly nearsighted helps “get around” the
problem of presbyopia, and allows you to see near better without using
glasses.  Most people adapt very well
to monovision and don’t notice any tradeoffs.  Some notice minor tradeoffs but decide that it is well worth
it to avoid the need for reading glasses. 
Astigmatism is treated either way, with the goal of complete elimination
whether you do monovision or a full distance correction.  Hopefully your surgeon explained all
this to you prior to surgery and allowed you to make a fully informed decision.

Farzad Yaghouti, MD · Answer

Hi Dixie, You cannot be both nearsighted and farsighted, unless you are nearsighted in one eye and farsighted in the other eye. Some patients may erroneously term a condition called "Presbyopia" (inability to read due to a gradual hardening of the lens inside the eye with aging, typically affecting patients around the age of 40 to 45 and worsening with age) as "farsightedness". If being presbyopic is what you mean by being "farsighted', then PRK is not going to fix that. Best, Dr. Yaghouti.

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