What to expect after refractive surgery? How to adapt to your brand-new vision

Refractive surgery is a surgical procedure whose main goal is to eliminate dependence on glasses and provide the patient with an improved quality of vision.

Once patients have undergone surgery, their ocular state experiment changes to which they have to adapt. In order to do so, several guidelines easing the adaptation can be followed.

What should I do the day after surgery?

After surgery, you should endeavour not to strain your eyes nor carry out activities that may require to do so, such as watching computer screens, reading (on any media type) or watching your phone screen. Even though the eyes are our bodies’ visual organ and they are those experimenting the change, the element receiving the information obtained by the eyes is the brain. The vision change process takes some time to adjust. In order to make this adjustment easier and faster, we recommend to rest during the day after surgery and until the post-surgery visit.

And after the visit?

After the post-surgery visit, and in case the ophthalmologist considers it appropriate, you may resume your usual activities and carry out all kind of tasks, providing that you follow any restrictions your surgeon may determine.

From that moment on, will I have good vision?

During the first weeks, patients may experiment variations or fluctuations in vision. During this period, patients should adapt the tasks they carry out to these possible variations and avoid visual strain when experimenting moments of less clear vision.  Your surgeon will let you know which tasks are advisable and which ones should be avoided.

Can I suffer from dry eyes after surgery?

A substantial proportion of patients may suffer from dry eyes after refractive surgery, the intervention may reduce sensitivity of corneal nerves. It is often and in most cases a temporary condition, although some patients may suffer from it for months or even years. In order to reduce its effects, many surgeons recommend administering lubricating eye drops that help improve the state of the cornea.