Common Questions: What Is The Average Lasik Recovery Time?

Herzig Eye Institute in Refractive Surgery on July 26, 2016

Perhaps you’ve seriously considered Laser Vision Correction, but were concerned about LASIK recovery time. The good news is your eyes start healing immediately after surgery, and recovery is often rapid. Laser Vision Correction is not painful and LASIK patients have a very predictable, temporary, healing response. In fact, most patients are able to return to work a day after the procedure.

WHAT TO EXPECT DURING RECOVERY

Your doctor will typically see you the day after your procedure to check your visual acuity and to make sure your eyes are healthy and healing properly.

It’s normal in the first few weeks after LASIK surgery to feel slight discomfort, and you shouldn’t be alarmed. These temporary symptoms might include dry eyes, glare, halos, starbursts, and dim light or night driving sensitivity.

In the case of dry eyes, it’s important to keep your eyes lubricated for up to 3 months after LASIK surgery. Even when your eyes don’t feel dry, you should use lubricating eye drops 3 or 4 times a day to prevent your eyes from drying out.

Dry eyes, halos, glare, or other visual disturbances after LASIK often disappear or are significantly reduced by the time of your one-month follow-up visit.

FOLLOW-UP CARE

Because your follow-up care is as important as the procedure, you will need to return for the required number of post-op exams and maintain regular annual eye examinations with the ophthalmologist or optometrist managing your care.

In a very small percentage of patients (about 1-2%), a little bit of regression can occur during or after the healing process. Though this happens infrequently, your surgeon may recommend a LASIK enhancement procedure to sharpen your eyesight. Most surgeons wait a minimum of six months before performing an enhancement, to provide adequate recovery time after the first surgery.

At Herzig Eye Institute, our mission is to ensure complete patient satisfaction through excellent clinical results, the highest quality of service in the most comfortable surroundings.