My little taste of perfect eyesight last Friday was a cruel tease. My eye is still blurry, improving slowly each day. The difference between my other eye is quite marked, however, which is encouraging.

Following are my tips for PRK recovery gleaned over the past few days:

1)Do not start a good book right before getting PRK because you will not be able to pick it up again for weeks - it will be too much strain to read. I'm halfway through Heat and it sits taunting me on my desk.

2)Do not chop onions the day after PRK! Pain! Excruciating pain!

3)If you are a voracious reader like myself, PRK will really be torturous, for, as noted above, you simply cannot read books and magazines for any extended period of time without feeling the strain. Try audio books instead. I picked up Provence A-Z and Mindfullness For Beginners. Mayle has a wonderful reading voice, and Zinn sounds a little like Woody Allen. Both have the added benefit of lulling me to sleep from their steady, gentle cadence (not from boredom). And of course, sleep is good for the healing process!

4)You will need three, maybe four, days off from work if your job entails sitting at a computer all day. I made the mistake of going to work two days after the procedure, and it wore me out. Stay home and rest for as long as you can before going back to work.

5)If you don't have anyone to prepare meals for you, make sure you have a bunch of food prepared in advance because cooking will tire you out (and you don't want to risk splashing anything in your eye), and cereal and sandwiches get old fast.

6)Keep the water pressure of your shower low to minimize water or soap splashing in your eye.

7)Since you can't splash water on your face, you can't wash your face, and this gets a little gross, especially if you live in a big, dirty city like I do. I've been using Clinique clarifying lotion (I don't know why they call it lotion - it's liquid!) And I've been using Clinique moisturizing gel instead of lotion, since lotion is greasy and you can easily get it in your eye if you touch your face then your eye. The gel just sinks right in and is gone, so there is less chance of it getting in your eye. Go to a Clinique counter and say you're going on vacation and need travel sizes. That's what I did and I got a tiny free toner - but I was also buying some stuff, so maybe that's why. But it's worth a shot!