Laser Eye Surgery — How Much Time Will I Need Off Work?
Depending on what you do for a living, you may be hoping you can get back to work immediately after Laser Eye Surgery.
Or, you may be hoping to finally have some prescribed and leisurely time away.
Preferably far away on some tropical island with plenty of medicinal cocktails and time spent resting.
If you’re more likely to be in the latter group, unfortunately, that’s not what you’re going to get from Laser Eye Surgery.
As a minimally-invasive procedure that takes minutes to perform, most people who have it are surprised by how little time they’re spent in recovery and how quickly they are back into their normal routine.
Normal is a bit of a misnomer, however. After having Laser Eye Surgery, especially if you’ve worn glasses for a long time, life is anything but normal.
And so although you won’t get much time off to spend in recovery, you may just soon find yourself diving off the coast of some tropical island, or diving out of a plane 12,000 feet up in the sky, or simply diving into your work with clear, fresh, and unrestricted eyes.
Getting back to work following Laser Eye Surgery
“Most patients are back to their normal routine within a day or two, we tend to ask patients to take one day off, the day after their surgery, to allow for a more relaxed environment to come for their one day post-op, and also to adjust to their new vision, adjust to their new drop routine, get used to placing the lubricant drops etc. before going back into their normal workplace.”—Mr Glenn Carp, Laser Eye Surgeon and Ophthalmic Surgeon
As Mr Carp states in the above video, after having Laser Eye Surgery, most of our patients take around two days off—the day of the surgery and the day after.
This is generally the case if you have LASIK or ReLEx SMILE surgery. If you have LASEK/PRK treatment, the oldest of the three, the recovery time can be a little longer — you can plan to return to work after around seven days.
Although getting back to work after Laser Eye Surgery is relatively quick and straight forward, on returning, there are several precautions to take and things to keep in mind on returning.
The main point is to keep your eyes well lubricated with artificial tears provided. Many people work using a computer or in an environment with air conditioning, and as both can dry out your eyes, it’s important take extra care to look after your eyes.
ReLEx SMILE has been shown to considerably reduce post-operative dry eye and discomfort (and in some cases even eliminate them completely). It can also be performed in significantly less time than standard LASIK surgery, and will have you back to work or your favourite activities before you can even blink.
London Vision Clinic was the first Laser Eye Surgery clinic in the UK to offer ReLEx SMILE. You can find out more about it here or by dropping us a question in the comments below.
If you also have any specific questions about how long it may be before you can get back to your work, we’d be happy to hear from you.