Life After LASIK
After receiving LASIK eye surgery, there are a few things you might expect: freedom from eyeglasses and contacts, clearer vision, and the wonderful feeling of waking up each morning with flawless eyesight. At Mattioli Vision Professionals, a Houston, TX eye center, we strive to improve the quality of people’s lives through LASIK and other vision correction procedures. We also encourage our patients to learn about different ways to further protect their eyes after a recent operation. To ensure you have a lifetime of healthy vision, here are a few things to avoid after LASIK eye surgery.
Things to Do After LASIK
- After the surgery, we recommend getting rest in a dark room: You should get two to three hours of sleep post surgery.
- Frequently use your prescribed eye drops: You will receive prescription eye drops that will prevent inflammation and possible infection and artificial tears to help heal your eyes and keep them moisturized. Dry eye is common after a LASIK procedure.
- After using the eyedrops, keep your eyes closed for 5 minutes. Let your eyes soak in the medicine.
- Administer eye drops before using eye ointments. This allows the medicine to reach your eye first and start working faster.
- Every so often, clean the rim of your eyelids with a sterile tissue. Do so in a very delicate manner.
- Blink more often. This will lower your discomfort as it’s a great way to keep your eyes moisturized and avoid dry eye.
- Clean your face regularly without touching your eyes.
- Make sure to wash your hands regularly, especially before touching anything that will go near your eye area.
- Wear sunglasses when going outside during the day post op to prevent scarring that can be caused by bright sunlight.
- For a week after surgery, use protective eye shields provided by your doctor when sleeping. The shields will prevent you from touching your eyes when you sleep.
LASIK Surgery Recovery Time
Recovery time after lasik surgery depends on your prescription pre surgery and your body’s response to it. Everybody is different, but your eyes should be healing quickly. Lots of patients go on with their daily routine the next day. Of course this depends on what your routine consists of, nonetheless you should notice a difference in your eyesight almost immediately. For a quick recovery, make sure you actively listen to your doctors recommendations and ask questions if you are unsure about anything.
Things to Avoid After LASIK
- Keep your eyes away from dust, pollen, or other particles in the air. If you happen to get something in your eyes, flush your eyes with artificial tears. This method will allow you to remove anything in your eyes without rubbing them.
- Refrain from washing your hair for a few days after LASIK. When showering, avoid having the stream of water hit you directly in the face. Instead face the opposite way.
- Don’t remove the protective eye shield on the first day. Your eyes are still very sensitive after laser vision correction.
- Don’t rub your eyes, especially with dirty hands. You can end up shifting your corneal flap, damaging your eye, and risking infection.
- Try to avoid getting water in your eyes for 2 weeks. The only two things that should go in your eyes are prescription eye drops and artificial tears.
- When cleaning your eyes, do not use tap water. Tap water is not sterile.
- Refrain from going swimming for 3 weeks. The water in swimming pools, hot tubs, and the ocean carry high levels of bacteria that you should avoid at all costs.
- Your LASIK surgeon will advise you not to exercise for 1 week after surgery.
- Refrain from wearing eye makeup for 1 month after surgery. When you go back to wearing makeup, remove it gently in a downward motion for two weeks.
- For 3 days, limit the amount of time you spend looking at computer screens. If you can avoid it completely, that would be ideal.
- Avoid areas with smoke. You should protect your eyes from harmful contaminants.
LASIK Concerns: Cloudy Vision & Halos
One of the most common symptoms and frightening ones is having blurry vision and seeing halos. It will feel like you have a filter on 24/7. It sounds pretty, but for most patients, it can lead them to feeling uneasy. You should avoid driving if you are experiencing these symptoms. This just means that your corneas are in the stabilization phase. Once your corneas stabilize, your vision should become clear. Keep communicating your symptoms to your doctor and he or she will be able to tell you what to do to stay on the path to 20/20 vision.
Aside from these things to avoid after LASIK eye surgery, we also encourage you to stay slightly less active after receiving LASIK eye surgery. You wouldn’t want to expose your eyes to certain situations or areas you feel would put them at risk.
