Laser Eye Surgery Articles                

    Do's and Don'ts After LASIK Surgery........6th Aug 2009

On the day of your LASIK eye surgery, you should aim to simply rest as much as possible. You should avoid touching, poking or rubbing the eye, although your LASIK surgeon may give you cotton wool to very, very gently dab the eye with if you experience discomfort.

A significant amount of issues arising after LASIK eye surgery come from patients who have rubbed their eyes afterwards. Even though the flap created as part of the LASIK eye surgery procedure will begin healing immediately, you should avoid any kind of strenuous activity in the weeks following your surgery.

Any contact sports, in particular, should be avoided for around a month.

Even though you may be delighted with the change to your vision, you should avoid activity on the day of your surgery that will strain your eyes, such as reading books, or using a PC.

The LASIK surgeon is likely to recommend actually keeping the eyes completely closed during the first two to four hours following surgery.

In the following twenty four hours, you should avoid any water in the eyes and for this reason taking a bath is better than a shower. You should try to keep to light activities only and your LASIK surgeon may be able to advise on whether you will be able to drive, although this is discouraged until further check ups.

Reading and watching television are okay and may help you and your eyes adjust to their new 'prescription', as well as helping you highlight any areas of concern later on. You should avoid especially bright light, but more important is to avoid reading or watching television in conditions that are too dark as this will put extra strain on the muscles around the eye.

For a week or two after your LASIK eye surgery, it is very important that you continue to wear the protective goggles/patch that will be provided by your LASIK surgeon.

If your surgery takes place in summer time, UV protective sunglasses are recommended for the few days following surgery.

You should not wear any make up, or apply any forms of face creams or similar for the first few days after the procedure, due to the risk of any small amount of this reaching the eye. Eye make up should not be worn until you have had your follow up visit with the LASIK surgeon, who will be able to check on the progress of your eye's recovery. In any case, this is not likely to be less than a week.

You should make it an absolute priority to keep to all your follow up appointments with the LASIK surgeon.

Many LASIK clinics operate tight schedules, meaning it can be difficult to arrange another appointment if you miss your arranged one without notice.

Even if you have no problems to report, the LASIK surgeon will be able to properly assess your eyes to be able to confirm that the surgery was a success.

On a related note, you should make sure that you follow the directions given on your medication. Eye drops normally have to be inserted two or three times a day and are given as standard to help your eyes to recover.