The Second 24 Hours

I was warned by the doctor (and by several blogs) that the 2nd and 3rd days are typically worse than the first. This was true for my case as well.

My vision was blurry and it was hard to focus on anything. My TV is mounted above my fireplace and looking up at it was very tiring - it felt like I was straining to make anything out. I spent the day listening to an audiobook (George Orwell's 1984.) I highly recommend setting up an audiobook for the recovery period... this was an excellent way to kill time. I spent most of the day with my eyes closed.

Later that evening I was feeling fine and felt anxious to get some fresh air. I went for a walk with Tracy down to the end of the block and back, then spent a few minutes in the backyard watering my trees. I then had dinner while watching/listening to Friday's Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien on my Mythtv.

At about 8:00 or so I started having my first real bout of PRK pain. My eyes started watering and did not stop... I had tears dripping off my chin for the better part of an hour or so. The feeling for me wasn't a "needles in the eyes" pain like other sites described, it was more like (as a contact wearer) the feeling you'd have if you slept in your contacts overnight and didn't have rewetting drops. Eventually the rewetting or pain drops worked but it took a while.

I went to bed at about 11:00 and slept through the night without issues. I woke up again at 5:00 with dry eyes but this time with no pain... after some rewetting drops I slept soundly again until about 8:00.