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What to Expect During & After LASIK
The day of your procedure you can expect to be at our office for about an hour and a half. The majority of that time will be spent in pre and post op, with only 15 minutes spent in the laser suite and the actual laser time of 5-20 seconds per eye.
You will start out in the pre-op section and be given an opportunity to relax. A member of the surgery staff will then take you to the laser suite and make sure you are comfortable in the reclined surgery chair. The technician will administer numbing drops and will clean around the eye area. Once the eye is numb, which only takes a few minutes, the surgeon will use a lid holder that cups your upper and lower eyelids to keep you from blinking. A suction ring is then placed on your eye to keep your eye still so while the surgeon creates the cornea flap, using an instrument called a microkeratome. After the flap has been created the doctor will carefully lift the flap and make sure you are aligned under the laser. A cool beam of laser light is then used to correct your prescription. Once the desired treatment has been reached, the corneal flap is put back into its original position. The doctor will smooth out the flap and give it a few minutes to dry, or adhere back to the cornea. After the flap is aligned and set in place, the lid holder will be removed and you will be able to blink. The procedure is then repeated with the second eye.
Once both eyes are completed you will be taken to another room to relax for about 15-20 minutes. The surgeon will examine you to ensure that the corneal flap is securely in place and a technician or nurse will place clear plastic shields over your operated eye(s). The shields help prevent you from touching your eyes and loosening the flap.
After you leave our surgery center, you will be asked to go home and sleep, or at least rest your eyes for several hours. This allows the flap to adhere better and keeps your eyes moist and comfortable. You may experience a feeling of dry eyes after the procedure. This can be more quickly alleviated if you allow your eyes to rest. The majority of our patient's notice immediate visual improvement after the procedure, but it may seem as though you are looking under water because of the eye drops used during the procedure. This usually subsides after you have rested your eyes for a few hours.
The following day, during your first post-op visit the shields will be removed and the doctor will check your vision and the corneal flap again. You will also receive instructions on the use of your antibiotic and anti-inflammatory eye drops and preservative-free artificial tears.
You can expect your vision to fluctuate during the first week. Not extreme fluctuations, but sometimes objects will seem a little more blurry than others. Your reading or computer vision may also take a few days to adjust after the procedure. This is usually better by the end of the first week. You may experience temporary glare and halloing the first few nights when driving. You may experience fluctuation in your vision through the end of the first month. We will see you again in our office at one week. This is usually when you will stop your prescription eye drops.
Your next post-op visit will be in one month. Our post-op visits run one day, one week, one month, three months and six months or as needed up to one year.
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