LASIK surgery is a safe, corrective eye procedure that focuses on the cornea of the eye to help improve vision. LASIK can effectively correct nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatisms.
Think of the cornea like a camera lens. It can zoom in and out, depending on how close you want to see. Sometimes, that lens becomes dirty or scratched and needs to be fixed. For the cornea, that’s where LASIK comes in. This procedure is quick and painless, and you can get back to your everyday life the very next day.
Here are the 10 things you can expect during your LASIK eye surgery recovery.
- Blurred Vision
- Mild Discomfort
- Follow-up Appointments
- Red Eyes
- Prescription Eye Drops
- Eye Irritants Avoidance
- Avoidance of Certain Beauty Products
- Nighttime Eye Shields
- No Swimming
- Unstable Vision
You may find that your vision is blurry for a while after your procedure, almost like you’re trying to see underwater. This will subside after about a week or two.
LASIK works by using a laser to remove some corneal tissue, which will reshape the cornea and make you see better. Because of this, there can be a little bit of discomfort after the surgery. Don’t worry though, your surgeon will prescribe you some pain medication to help with the irritation.
After your LASIK surgery, you will schedule a follow-up appointment. This appointment will be to ensure that the healing is going properly and that the procedure is working.
You may experience slightly red eyes, but this is very common. Similar to bruising, this redness will go away in a few days.
Another common side effect of LASIK is getting dry eye. Because the eye needs to be moist to heal, prescription eye drops are commonly given to help you combat dry eye. This should only last a few days.
Post-surgery, the doctor will encourage you to stay away from things that could irritate the eye, like dust, smoke, and too much exposure to light. This could all irritate your eyes, and cause damage.
The day before LASIK, you should avoid wearing any eye makeup. Following the procedure, you should abstain from using eye cream or makeup on your eyes for a week. During this time, your eyes will be more sensitive, and this could cause inflammation or infection.
At night, you’ll be required to wear eye shields to protect your eyes. These will be put on post eyedrops, and they will remain on every night for 4-5 nights.
After your LASIK surgery, you should be very careful to not get water in your eyes. Eye care specialists recommend waiting about two weeks or more until you go swimming again.
The last thing you may experience after LASIK surgery is unstable vision. Your eyesight may fluctuate for about a week, which just means that your eyes are trying to stabilize.