I had PRK on my left eye in 1996. I had about -7.5 myopia, and they corrected for -6.02. (Presumably the .02 is so that their statistics don't get too badly messed up if anything goes wrong!). The (sound) idea was to leave me -1.5 to allow good reading vision in that eye. I seem to remember that the laser was stopped during the op. and I noticed that the light I was supposed to be looking at moved significantly, maybe because it was difficult to see it with all the tears that were flooding my eye. Eye healed very well and quickly with almost no pain, but after about a week I noticed that light sources at night were producing an irregular flare pattern, indicating a 'decentred ablation' which happens when the eye moves during the op. (Optimax have never admitted to this and say it's because of my 'irregular healing', but on the corneal map you can see it's off-centre by about 1.75mm. and I have 'induced astigmatism' of about +2.5). After 6 months the result was stable. I can see OK in bright sunlight, but night vision is really messed up. Optimax have been sympathetic, but despite promises, never really suggested a strategy to correct the problem. Luckily a high street optician recommended a gas-permeable contact lens which is only slightly more rigid than normal (not more expensive either) and smoothes out the cornea. So at night I can wear this to get 20/20 vision with no flare. The right eye is still untreated -8.00, so normally I wear a regular contact in this eye and nothing in the left eye and despite what they say, I have no problems caused by difference in image size in the two eyes. Also as I'm over 40, I do 'monovision' which means the right contact focuses for reading and the left eye is for distance. In general I'm still glad I had the op. I can see some TV without correction and I'm waiting for the day when a reliable method of correcting my now-irregular cornea is available. The most promising method seems to involve first moulding a collagen lens to the cornea and simply retreating as on a normal eye. 'Custom ablation' using a flying-spot scanner doesn't seem to work. Either way I won't have the right eye done until the left is 20/20. I can't blame Optimax as they were pioneers and warned me of all the risks, although I think they were understated. On the consent form you more or less sign away your eyesight. Also I think people like to exaggerate their claims for improved vision, saying things like 'I now have 20/20 vision' when they don't say what their night vision is like. Probably a lot of people who claim 20/20 vision shouldn't be driving at night. This is a new problem which didn't arise before corneal correction procedures.