How Long Do PRK Surgery Results Really Last?

simple answer is that PRK results are designed to be long-lasting, often permanent but, like everything involving your eyes, long-term stability depends on several factors.

PRK has been performed since the late 1980s, making it the longest-studied laser vision correction procedure. Many people who had PRK decades ago still enjoy excellent clarity today, which shows just how durable the results can be. But it’s also true that your eyes continue to age, and certain changes over time can influence how your vision behaves, regardless of whether you’ve had PRK or not.

In this article, I want to walk you through what “permanent” really means, what affects long-term outcomes, how your eyes change naturally with age, and when an enhancement might be recommended. Whether you’re doing your initial research or have already had the treatment, this will give you a clear, honest understanding of what to expect from your PRK results.

Is PRK Permanent? The Honest Answer

Yes, PRK is intended to be a permanent procedure. The laser reshapes the cornea to correct your prescription, and those structural changes remain stable for most people throughout their lives. Unlike contact lenses or glasses, which correct vision temporarily, PRK physically changes the way your eye focuses light, and that doesn’t simply reverse itself.

However, “permanent” doesn’t mean you’ll never experience changes in your vision. Your eyes still age, and changes such as presbyopia, cataracts or natural prescription drift can occur independently of PRK.

Think of PRK like reshaping a camera lens:

Once reshaped, it stays that way, but the rest of the camera can still age.

How Long Do PRK Results Last on Average?

For most patients, PRK results last 10–20+ years, and many people maintain excellent clarity for life.

The typical long-term outcome is:

  • Stable results within 3–6 months
  • Clear and consistent distance vision
  • Long-term prescription stability
  • No need for glasses for distance tasks

Large-scale studies show that PRK delivers remarkably strong long-term performance, even decades after treatment.

Why PRK Results Are So Long-Lasting

PRK has several features that contribute to its stability:

No flap to weaken over time

LASIK creates a flap that permanently remains; PRK keeps the surface intact.

Stronger corneal biomechanics

PRK preserves more tissue depth, reducing the risk of structural change.

Gradual, natural healing

The epithelium regrows in a way that aligns well with your new corneal shape.

Less risk of ectasia

Because the cornea remains structurally stronger, long-term complications are rare.

These factors all contribute to stable vision for many years.

What Can Make PRK Results Change Over Time?

PRK permanently reshapes the cornea, but other factors can affect your vision later in life.

Let’s break them down.

Ageing and Presbyopia (Over 40s)

This is the biggest reason people think their PRK results have “worn off.” Presbyopia is an age-related change in your natural lens that affects near vision.

Symptoms include:

  • Needing reading glasses
  • Difficulty focusing on close tasks
  • Holding your phone farther away

Presbyopia happens whether you’ve had PRK or not it has nothing to do with the laser treatment.

Cataract Development (Typically 60+)

Cataracts are caused by clouding of the natural lens. This affects vision even if the cornea was corrected years earlier.

Signs include:

  • Cloudy or foggy vision
  • Glare at night
  • Poor contrast
  • Difficulty reading despite glasses

If you develop cataracts later in life, laser clarity will appear to decline but the issue is the lens, not the cornea reshaped by PRK.

Natural Prescription Drift

A small percentage of people naturally experience:

  • Slight myopia progression
  • Astigmatism changes
  • Long-term corneal remodelling

These changes can affect vision even without PRK.

Hormonal and Systemic Changes

Conditions like:

  • Pregnancy
  • Diabetes
  • Significant hormonal shifts
  • Thyroid disorders

can influence your prescription over time.

High Original Prescriptions

People who had very strong prescriptions before PRK may experience small shifts years later.

This isn’t regression it’s simply the eye continuing its natural course.

Does PRK Cause Regression?

PRK regression is rare, but it can happen.

Regression is more likely if:

  • You had a high prescription
  • You have thin corneas
  • You are genetically prone to changes
  • You’re very young at the time of surgery

Most people, however, never experience meaningful regression.

How to Keep Your PRK Results Stable for Longer

Protect your eyes from UV light

Wear sunglasses outdoors.

Manage dry eyes

Healthy tear film = better long-term clarity.

Keep your glasses prescription updated

If minor shifts occur, address them early.

Control systemic health conditions

Especially diabetes and thyroid issues.

Maintain regular eye examinations

Monitoring ensures early detection of age-related changes.

Avoid rubbing your eyes

Chronic rubbing can change corneal shape.

When Might You Need a PRK Enhancement?

Enhancements aren’t common, but they’re sometimes recommended when:

  • Vision doesn’t reach expected clarity
  • Slight changes occur years later
  • Natural drift affects reading or distance tasks
  • Prescription has shifted enough to cause inconvenience

PRK can be done again because it doesn’t involve a flap, and surgeons can safely perform a “touch-up” procedure if enough tissue is available.

Enhancement timing:

  • 3–12 months after original surgery (if early adjustment needed)
  • Years later if age-related prescription drift occurs

Enhancements are typically quicker and easier than the first treatment.

How Surgeons Assess Whether an Enhancement Is Safe

Before approving a PRK enhancement, your doctor will perform:

  • Corneal thickness measurements
  • Topography mapping
  • Tear film evaluation
  • Prescription stability checks
  • Ectasia risk analysis

This ensures your cornea is still strong enough for a second treatment.

Long-Term Studies on PRK Stability

Research consistently shows:

  • PRK results remain stable for decades
  • Less biomechanical change compared to LASIK
  • Lower risk of long-term complications
  • High patient satisfaction

Many early PRK patients have celebrated over 25–30 years of stable vision.

PRK vs LASIK: Long-Term Result Comparison

With PRK, you don’t have to worry about a corneal flap because the procedure doesn’t create one. That means your cornea usually stays more stable over the years. You’re also less likely to struggle with long-term dryness, which can be a big relief if your eyes already feel sensitive.

LASIK, on the other hand, does involve a flap, so the corneal stability is slightly lower compared to PRK. Many people also notice more long-term dryness after LASIK, especially if their tear film wasn’t great to begin with.

When it comes to enhancements or touch-ups later, PRK tends to be the safer choice because there’s no flap to disturb. Both treatments offer excellent durability, but the risk of regression is typically lower with PRK. And if you have thin corneas, you’ll usually find that PRK is the more suitable option, while LASIK is often not recommended.

Overall, PRK holds its own extremely well as a long-term vision correction procedure and can be a better fit for you if corneal stability and dryness are key concerns for you.

What PRK Does not Prevent

To avoid confusion, it’s important to understand what PRK can and cannot do.

PRK cannot prevent:

  • Presbyopia
  • Cataracts
  • Age-related macular changes
  • General biological ageing
  • New prescriptions from forming decades later

PRK corrects the cornea, not the internal structures of your eye.

How to Know If Your PRK Results Are Starting to Change

You might notice:

  • Blurry distance vision
  • Difficulty driving at night
  • Needing more light to read
  • Ghosting or haloing
  • Reduced contrast sensitivity
  • Increasing reliance on glasses

These symptoms don’t necessarily mean PRK “wore off” they simply indicate that your eyes should be examined again.

Options If Your PRK Results Change Later in Life

You still have several solutions available:

PRK Enhancement

If corneal thickness allows.

LASIK Enhancement

Rarely used after PRK but possible in specific cases.

ICL (Implantable Collamer Lens)

For people with high prescriptions or thin corneas.

Refractive Lens Exchange (RLE)

For adults over 45–50 who want presbyopia correction.

Cataract Surgery with Premium IOLs

Restores both clarity and refractive accuracy.

Your options remain open even decades after your original procedure.

FAQs:

  1. Are PRK results actually permanent?
    Yes, PRK is designed to give you permanent vision correction because the laser reshapes your cornea in a way that doesn’t reverse over time. Once that reshaping is done, your cornea keeps its new form, which allows you to maintain clearer vision for many years. The only reason your eyesight may change later has more to do with natural ageing inside the eye rather than the PRK treatment itself.
  2. How long can I expect my PRK results to last?
    For most people, PRK results last anywhere from 10 to 20 years or even longer, and many patients maintain excellent clarity throughout their lives. The vision you gain after healing tends to stay stable, because the structural changes made to the cornea are long-lasting and supported by strong biomechanics. Even early PRK patients treated in the late 1980s still enjoy good vision today, which shows just how durable the procedure is.
  3. Can PRK results fade or weaken over time?
    Your PRK results don’t exactly “fade,” but your overall vision can still change because your eyes naturally age. Over time, your lens may stiffen, causing presbyopia, or it may develop clouding in the form of cataracts. These changes happen to everyone, whether they’ve had PRK or not, and they’re the reason you might feel like your PRK result has shifted when in reality the cornea is still stable.
  4. What is the most common reason people think their PRK results didn’t last?
    The biggest reason people assume their PRK has worn off is presbyopia, which typically begins in your 40s. Even if your cornea was perfectly reshaped during PRK, the natural lens inside your eye eventually loses flexibility, making near tasks harder. This can give the impression that your vision has regressed, but it’s simply a normal age-related change unrelated to the laser treatment.
  5. Can ageing affect my PRK results?
    Ageing doesn’t undo PRK, but it definitely influences how your vision behaves over the years. As you get older, you may experience cataracts, reduced contrast sensitivity or natural prescription drift that has nothing to do with the earlier laser reshaping. These changes arise from the inner structures of your eye rather than the cornea that PRK corrected, which means the original PRK result is still intact even if your vision feels different.
  6. Will I ever need a PRK enhancement in the future?
    Some patients do choose to have an enhancement years after their initial treatment, especially if natural changes in their eyes mean that their prescription has shifted enough to cause inconvenience. An enhancement simply refines the original correction, and because PRK doesn’t involve a flap, it’s generally considered safe to repeat if your cornea has enough thickness. Whether you need it or not depends on how stable your vision remains and how your eyes behave with age.
  7. Can PRK prevent future eye problems like cataracts or presbyopia?
    PRK can’t stop those conditions because it only works on the cornea, not the internal lens of your eye. Cataracts, presbyopia and other age-related changes come from deeper structures that naturally evolve as the years go by. Even with perfectly corrected corneal vision, these age-related issues will appear eventually, just as they do in people who never had laser surgery.
  8. What should I do if I notice blurry vision years after PRK?
    If you begin to feel that your vision isn’t as sharp as before, the first step is always to book an eye examination to find out what’s causing the change. It could be a simple prescription shift, an early cataract or dryness, all of which are manageable. A proper assessment will show whether the cornea reshaped by PRK is still stable, and it almost always is, meaning the blur is coming from another part of the eye that can be treated accordingly.
  9. How will I know if PRK is no longer giving me the clarity I want?
    You’ll generally notice subtle signs such as struggling with night driving, needing more light to read, or feeling like your distance vision isn’t as crisp as before. These changes usually happen gradually, and they’re often linked to ageing rather than any failure of the PRK correction. The only way to know for certain is with a detailed check-up, where your surgeon can compare your original results with your current eye health.
  10. If my PRK results change, what are my options?
    You still have several ways to improve your vision depending on the underlying cause. If your cornea has enough thickness and your prescription has shifted, another PRK treatment may refine your clarity. If the change comes from issues like presbyopia or cataracts, solutions such as lens implants, refractive lens exchange or cataract surgery with premium lenses can restore sharpness. Your long-term options remain flexible because PRK doesn’t limit what you can do later in life.

Final Thought: Long-Term PRK Results

Understanding how long PRK results last can help you feel more confident about your decision, whether you’re researching the treatment or already enjoying your clearer vision. PRK is designed to give you long-term, often lifelong stability, and most of the changes you may notice years later come from natural ageing inside the eye rather than the laser correction itself. With regular eye exams, good eye care habits and timely treatment of age-related changes, you can maintain excellent clarity well into the future. If you’d like to find out whether PRK surgery in London is right for you, you can get in touch with us at Eye Clinic London to arrange a consultation and talk through your options.

References:

  1. Castro-Luna, G., Pérez-Ruiz, A., Hernández-Almeida, A. et al. (2020). Long-Term Follow-Up Safety and Effectiveness of Myopia Correction in PRK and FS-LASIK. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(23), 8729. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/23/8729
  2. Roszkowska, A.M., Korn, G., Lenzner, M. et al. (2023). One-Year Results of Photorefractive Keratectomy for Myopia and Compound Myopic Astigmatism Using a 210 nm Solid-State Laser. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 12(13), 4311. https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/12/13/4311
  3. Cennamo, G., Lupelli, M., Sacconi, R. et al. (2020). Twenty-Year Follow-Up of Excimer Laser Photorefractive Keratectomy. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7010920/
  4. Diakonis, V.F., Kymionis, G.D., Pallikaris, I.G. et al. (2014). Long-Term Follow-Up of Photorefractive Keratectomy with Intraoperative Mitomycin C. Clinical Ophthalmology. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4003094/
  5. Spadea, L. and Bonfiglio, V. (2019). Main complications of photorefractive keratectomy and their management: Corneal haze and ectasia. Current Opinion in Ophthalmology, 30(4), 263–269. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31033923/