Recovery times for my laser eye surgery

I’m back at work now, using the computer for hours at a time. I do notice my eyes feel tired and dry occasionally but this is mainly where I’ve been forgetting to take rest breaks. A few minutes away from the screen or a drop with the fake tears and I’m fine. I’ve been using the drops less and less. It started as three times a day when I first went back to work – the instructions say I could use them up to 6 times a day (they’re Hypremellose 0.3% w/v). But within a couple of days I was down to 1 or 2 drops a day.

I’m going to run through my experience of recovery times for all the various things. Obviously these are just a guide as they will vary from person to person based on age, type of surgery and many other things but this might give you an idea if you’re about to have your own surgery. Just to remind you I had intralase wavefront surgery with Ultralase (they call it Ultralasik plus Intralase).

Sunlight / bright lights
Wore sunglasses outside constantly for three days, inside on occasion if light was bright. After that three days some bright lights make me feel that I need to concentrate a little more to see clearly, but I’m not actually losing anything in terms of vision.

Limited light
Up until two weeks after surgery I felt like I needed to squint and concentrate hard in limited light. Weirdly enough for the first three days or so I was convinced that white became very faintly ultraviolet in limited light conditions. Might have been my imagination, but this cleared up very quickly. After three weeks I don’t really notice a problem in limited light conditions, except when I’m tired.

Night vision
Seems fine on the whole. Three weeks post op and bright headlights often have tiny halos around them. However I often ask people I’m with (who’ve not had surgery) if they get the halos too – and they do. So whether this is a result of surgery actually seems unlikely. It could be perfectly natural. Basically my laser eye surgery has not made a discernible difference to my night vision.

Driving
I was declared fit for driving 24hrs after my operation. I didn’t drive for about a week, not because I felt unfit but because I had no need to. When I did drive it was just like watching the tv or computer – I tried to blink regularly to keep my eyes hydrated but otherwise had no problems whatsoever.

Computer Use
I wasn’t really comfortable for longer than about an hour or two until two weeks after the operation. My eyes would feel tired, my vision would feel a little unstable – blurring until I blinked etc. But after that two weeks I could go for hours and besides blinking lots and needing the drops once a day if at work it’s not really been a problem. I am glad that I could have two weeks off rather than just the one week though. I’m convinced it helped my recovery.

TV
It was about three days before I could watch TV comfortably, and even then an hour or two was my limit. After about 5 days I was absolutely fine.

Reading
Same as with the TV I think, it was about three days before I decided to pick a book up and read. For about two weeks I would notice that my vision was a little unstable when reading at certain times – usually first thing in the morning or last thing at night. And while that might sound like a problem, it really wasn’t. It was only me being conscious of my ‘new eyes’ I think.

Supermarkets
For the first week I found I had to concentrate a little harder in supermarkets and other places with artificial light and a lot for the eyes to take in. For example standing in an aisle looking for one particular item amongst a shelf was quite tiring. Its not that my vision was poor, but I felt like I had to work hard – just like with a new prescription.

All in all, three weeks after surgery and my life feels like normal.
Except for the odd moment when I feel an eyelash or something in my eye and I get this crazy panic that I’ve somehow dislodged the flap and it’s all gone horribly wrong. Which is perhaps human nature, but completely crazy all the same.
Would I have it done again? Now I’ve forgotten how uncomfortable the surgery was and what the results are most definitely yes I would. Would I recommend you to have it done? If you’ve done your research, chosen a surgeon and company that you trust and can spare some time off work to allow your eyes to heal, then yes I would.

Two weeks on

It's now been just over two weeks since my intralase eye surgery with Ultralase and I'm more than happy with the results.

I stopped the drops in my right eye on the 9th day (2 days with drops every 2 hours and then 7 with a drop every 4 hours), but my left eye I continued as recommended at my week's check up. I actually stopped all drops in the left one after 11 days. Since then I've just been using the fake tear drops when needed - usually first thing in the morning and, depending on my activities that day, perhaps once more if at all.

I went down to London for two nights at exactly the two week mark and words just can't express how amazing it was to be able to go out shopping all day and then go out at night with no worries about whether my contacts would cope with all the dry conditions and extra work. My eyes were tired by the end of each day but a drop of fake tears and I was fine again.

Bright lights are a tiny bit blurry in dark light conditions but that's really the only thing noticeable now. Even then it doesn't stop me from doing anything or enjoying myself. While in London I went to see a comedy show at the Comedy Store - a black auditorium. My vision was fine for that. Dark environment looking at a brightly lit stage for a couple of hours.

After two weeks I can finally sleep without the eye shields again. I can wear make up and I can have a proper shower (for two weeks you aren't allowed to get your eyes wet so I've been washing my hair in the bath with the mixer tap and my head tilted back). Almost back to normal life.

I have to say I was looking forward to the wearing make up again part. My mother's nursing influences yet again meant I threw away all mascaras and old eyeliners, except pencils which I sharpened and sharpened so they were clean and like new again. I even treated myself to some new make up whilst I was in London. It felt so amazing to get all dressed and made up for a night out without any worries about glasses or contacts. Every day I forget a little bit more that I've even had this done. This life-changing procedure that I ummed and ahhed about for over a year before deciding to finally go for it. Oh how glad am I that I went through with it?

I go back to work on Monday and although I'm really lucky to have been able to have three whole weeks to recover, I would have been fine to go back to work after two. If I didn't work with computers so much I'd have been fine after about three days, but I think something like the long term health of your eyes is important enough to warrant as much time off as possible. It will be weird to have people asking me about my surgery, I'm so close to forgetting I've even had anything done!