Recovery after Laser Eye Surgery

After laser eye surgery procedure, you may feel tired and groggy, especially if you have had some form of sedative to help you relax. It is likely that you will not feel much pain in your eye until the local anaesthetic eye drops have worn off.

Laser eye surgery procedures are usually done as out-patient appointments, which means you will be allowed home under supervision after the operation has done. You will need to have someone to take you home as you won’t be able to drive.


For the first 8 to 10 hours you will be unable to see much out of the treated eye, everything will seem blurry or cloudy. After this period, your vision will begin to return back to normal. Once the anaesthetic has worn off, you will probably begin to feel a dull pain in your eye that may make you want to itch or rub it. It is important to try and resist this urge as much as possible, as it can damage your eye before it has the chance to heal. Alongside this, it is likely that you may have some degree of light sensitivity, as well as the feeling of having something in your eye.

To help your eye heal, you will usually be given some eye drops to put in at certain times. These drops are used to lubricate the eye, as well as prevent it becoming infected or swelling up. During the recovery period, it is recommended that you wear no makeup on or around the eye as this can cause irritation. There is also no swimming for up to eight weeks following the procedure. You will be allowed back to your normal routine after a few days (check this with your surgeon).

Over the following few weeks post surgery, it is likely that your vision will begin to return to normal, however you may still experience some symptoms, such as light sensitivity, starbursts or halo's and glare. These problems usually disappear after approximately 2-4 weeks and you should be symptom free after the first month, leaving you to enjoy your corrected vision.

Even though laser vision correction has a high success rate, there are still some instances when the outcome isn’t as good as would have been hoped. In these circumstances you may need further operations to fully correct your vision. These are known as laser vision enhancement surgery and usually cost as much as the first procedure, unless they are included in the initial costs. To help you understand the surgery and the cost, the next article contains all the information you need about it.

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