LASIK Recovery Time – How Long is it?

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Most LASIK patients are extremely happy with their LASIK recovery time. As a patient after surgery, your eyes will start healing immediately after your LASIK surgery, and most patients experience a major improvement in their vision 24 hours after surgery.

Of course, blurred vision is to be expected and your LASIK surgeon typically will see you the day after initial surgery. At the follow-up appointment, the surgeon will check your visual acuity and verify that the healing process is happening and that your eyes are healthy.

In most cases you will be able to legally drive and continue with normal day to day activities such as attending classes, going back to work or school without sunglasses or contact lenses the day after LASIK surgery!

Recovery Process

Part of long-term recovery includes regular follow-up visits that will be scheduled for a period of six months or longer to continue to monitor your vision and eyes health. After six months most patients report having clear vision at a final post-op visit. During this time you will talk to your surgeon about any disturbances you are experiencing such as dry eyes, halos, glare or any other visual disturbance.  

If after your six month follow-up visit you are still experiencing visual disturbances such as dry eyes, visual disturbances or blurred vision, your surgeon might suggest a LASIK enhancement procedure to sharpen eyesight. Surgeons will generally wait six months before performing any kind of enhancement to provide adequate recovery time from the initial surgery.

A very important aspect of your recovery, short-term and long-term is to protect your eyes from injury. Eyes that have undergone LASIK surgery are more susceptible to traumatic injuries as compared to eyes that have not undergone LASIK.

For this reason, invest in safety glasses and sports safety glasses with polycarbonate lenses to protect your eyes from harm especially when working with power tools, playing sports and any other activity or activities that could potentially harm your recovery time.

1-2 Weeks Post-Surgery

A few days after surgery you should be able to drive, go back to work and continue with personal and professional activities. Of course, you will want to be mindful of any activity that might compromise your surgery, like sports. Simply be mindful of your surroundings after you have LASIK as to not put yourself in danger.

1-2 weeks after surgery you may want to wear polycarbonate lenses while playing sports like tennis, soccer, football, racket ball, etc. in order to protect your eyes. It is suggested that most patients wait until day three or four to resume low impact sports activities. For higher impact sports wait for up to two weeks and contact sports wait for three weeks.

Are you a swimmer? If so, you are able to swim in a pool (chlorinated) up to seven days after your LASIK surgery. If you swim in the ocean, lake or another natural body of water, wait for up to 30 days. Any competitive athlete will need to be mindful of sweat dripping in the eyes and all athletes of any ability will need to resist rubbing the eyes with hands or towels for up to three weeks.

Recovery Time With Bathing and Make-Up

Showers or baths are perfectly fine after surgery. You will want to avoid getting soap or water directly in the eyes for at least a week.

Eye makeup, especially eyeliner or mascara should be avoided for a minimum of a week. It is dangerous for makeup to rub or run into the eye because of the clouding effect, irritation and chance of infection. Lotion, moisturizer and other face makeup are approved for use directly after surgery as it has minimal contact with the eye.

Contact our Lasik eye surgery center in Atlanta for more information. 

 

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