Some of the do's and don't after Lasik surgery?!


Question:

Some of the do's and don't after Lasik surgery?

BTW : technically is it correct to termed this as surgery? How does the whole process like?


Answers:

In my ophthalmology clinic, the word surgery means any type of treatment that involves an incision (LASIK flap creation) or removal of something (PRK, the corneal epithelium is removed). Guess Surgery and Procedure terms are interchangable.

Do's and Don'ts after LASIK:

Do have a driver after your procedure. You will be seeing better, but doc's orders should be to keep your eyes closed for the next 2-4 hours during that initial healing process. Mine recommended sleeping during the burning/tearing (course, I couldn't lol, but I did keep my eyes closed).

Do have your eyedrop prescriptions filled (unless your surgeon gives them to you). I had to fill Zymar, an antibiotic drop. Pred Forte and Acular were provided by my surgeon.

Do have plenty of preservative free artificial tears! My surgeon provided a sample pack...but that didn't get me or my husband through the remainder of the day of surgery. Mine recommended Refresh Plus...and that stuff really worked for both of us.

Do take the rest of the day off (for LASIK) or the next 4 days off (for PRK) from work to rest. You do not NEED to be using your eyes.

Do take Vitamin C...1000 mg one week prior to PRK and for 3 months postop...helps with healing the cornea...might not be a bad idea to take it with LASIK either...tho it wasn't on our postop instructions.

Do follow your drop regimen. You will have to wait 10 minutes between drops...and you will be taking them for about a week for LASIK and the Pred Forte on a taper for 3-4 weeks postop.

Do wear sunglasses (these usually are provided) for the first few weeks after surgery any time you are outside. Even for the first 24 hours INSIDE. I'm 1 month postop and I'm still quite light sensitive outside and wearing my sunglasses even on cloudy days.

Do keep to your followup examinations. For LASIK postops usually are within the first 24 hrs, 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and one year for most followup plans, but this may vary by surgeon choice.

DO NOT RUB YOUR EYES!!! This is especially important. Rubbing your eyes can wrinkle the flap or brush the bandage contact lens (for PRK). Your surgeon should provide some sleeping goggles to help prevent this in your sleep. Wear them for three days and try to keep from rubbing your eyes for 1 week (sometimes longer).

If you have PRK, do not try to replace the contact lens if it falls out. You need to be seen immediately by your surgeon for lens replacement.

DO NOT get water in your eyes for one week. Be careful showering. Even tap water that has been treated has the capability of carrying organisms (acanthomoeba) that can do serious harm to a healing cornea. This means no swimming, no yard mowing (all the little pieces of grass), no hot tubs, no sweat while exercising. Be careful when showering. Face away from the shower head to keep the water/shampoo from running into your eyes. To wash your face, use a damp washcloth.

LADIES: No eye makeup, no eye shadow, no eye liner, no mascara for one week!!

This list was from the postop instruction sheet given to us by our surgeon. Surgeons may differ a bit based upon their comfort levels regarding your healing on some of the times.

As for what the process was like...I do not remember too much prior to surgery cause I was so super anxious. But they did give me a valium that helped to take the edge off.

I was positioned under the excimer laser laying down...was just told to watch the blinking light (course it was SUPER fuzzy). Doc put a patch on my contralateral eye while he was working on one to keep my eyes from moving. Just prior to starting, he used numbing drops. I had the PRK, so the steps on getting to the cornea prior to the actual laser was a little different. I didn't have a flap. My doc used a little tiny "toothbrush" thing to take just the epithelium...and I do remember that kinda tickling...but NO pain. Once that was done, he centered me under the laser and it took 1 minute...yup...only 1 minute for the laser to do its thing. Then he used this medication called mitomycin-C to help minimize the haze that can occur with corneal healing for 20 seconds, rinsed clean, then put the bandage contact lens. Same thing left eye.

There was no pain at all during the procedure. Was kinda strange sensation, but when I got to sit up afterwards, I did get a sneak peek of my "new" world before he told me to keep my eyes closed for the next 2-4 hours.

I've had two postop appointments and they measure your visual acuity, take a look for any corneal dryness and haze using this yellow glow in the dark stuff (if I'd gone to a club with lots of black lights, I would have had glowing eyes lol) that stains the dry spots in your eyes, and to make sure that there aren't any infections. I go back in 2 weeks for my 6 week postop then will have one at 3 months.

All in all...I found the whole process very educational...I do not get to witness any kinds of procedures in MY office, but I did watch hubby's LASIK.

My advice...do not watch the videos on the internet. It really does mess with the mind and does make it look a lot worse than it really is because you do not have a surgeon talking to you...telling you what he is doing for every step, which is something that you do not get tailored to your eyes (I didn't have sound when I watched them AFTER my surgery). The voice of the surgeon telling you what he is doing and the techs counting down the seconds really helped my anxiety levels too and I knew..."ok...only 30 more seconds...only 20, 10, 5...then I'll be done".

Hope this helps :)




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