There are 2 types of laser corrective eye surgery.

The first is called PRK (Photorefractive Keratectomy) which is less expensive to have, involves surface ablation with an excimer laser and takes a little longer to heal (2-3 weeks).

PRK can be used to treat long-sightedness, short-sightedness and astigmatism but your eye surgeon will tell you after doing some tests whether you are a good candidate or not.

The second type involves making a corneal flap using (in our setting) a Femtosecond Laser. Then the excimer laser is used to ablate the cornea as with PRK. NASA encourages all its astronauts to have this laser corrective surgery

There are only 2 femtosecond lasers in Gauteng and one in the Cape. The procedure is more expensive and the healing is quicker. Both PRK and Femtosecond laser have equal visual results in the long term (after 3 months).