Most LASIK complications we see are not surgical. They are avoidable problems from the fortnight around the procedure: a patient who kept wearing contact lenses until two days before the scan, or rubbed an itchy eye hard on day three, or stopped the steroid drops early because the eye felt fine. This is a plain timeline of what to do, when, and why each instruction exists.
Two to four weeks before: the contact lens rule
This is the instruction people most often ignore, and it is the one that can send you home without surgery.
Contact lenses mould the cornea. A lens worn daily flattens and distorts the surface slightly, and that distortion takes days to weeks to disappear. Since the laser treatment is planned entirely from measurements of your corneal shape, a cornea that has not recovered gives a plan built on the wrong map. Stop wearing them for:
- Soft lenses: at least one week, preferably two.
- Toric or extended-wear soft lenses: two weeks.
- Rigid gas permeable lenses: three to four weeks, sometimes longer, and we will repeat the scans until two of them match.
Yes, this means a few weeks in glasses. There is no way around it, and the surgeon will know from the topography if you have cheated.
The week before
- Do tell us about every medicine you take, including isotretinoin for acne, and any autoimmune condition or thyroid problem.
- Do mention if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. We will reschedule.
- Do start the lubricating drops if we have prescribed them. Beginning surgery with a healthy tear film shortens the dry phase afterwards.
- Don't use eye make-up, kajal or false lashes for two days before. Particles around the lash line are the main infection risk.
- Don't book a flight, a wedding or an exam for the two days after. Plan for a quiet 48 hours.
- Do arrange someone to drive you home. You will not be able to drive yourself, whatever you may have read.
The day of surgery
Eat normally. Wash your hair in the morning, because you will be avoiding water near the eyes for a couple of days. Wear a shirt that buttons at the front rather than something you pull over your head. Leave perfume, aftershave and hair spray alone entirely.
The procedure itself takes ten to fifteen minutes for both eyes, and the laser part is far shorter than that. You stay awake, the eye is numbed with drops, and a small clip keeps the lids apart so you cannot blink. You will feel pressure, not pain. Vision goes dim and foggy for a few seconds during the treatment, which is expected and often the part that surprises people most. Your job is simply to look at the blinking light and not talk.
The first 24 hours
This is the window that decides most of your comfort over the next week.
- Go home and sleep for three or four hours. This is not optional advice; it is the single most effective thing you can do. The eye heals fastest closed.
- Wear the plastic shields while sleeping for as long as we tell you, usually a week. People rub their eyes in their sleep without knowing it.
- Do not rub the eye. If you have had LASIK, the flap is held in place by suction and healing, not stitches, and it can be displaced in the first day or two. If it feels gritty or watery, use the lubricating drops instead.
- Expect burning, watering and light sensitivity for four to six hours. Sunglasses help. So does a dark room.
- No screens for the rest of the day. Listen to something instead.
Call us the same evening if you have severe pain that drops do not touch, or if vision gets noticeably worse rather than better. Neither is common, both are worth a phone call. Our emergency line is +91 40-4245 6666.
The first week
Most people see well enough to work by the next morning and are back at a desk within two or three days. What still needs care:
- No water in the eyes. Shower with your back to the spray, and keep the face-washing to a damp cloth around the eyes for the first week.
- No swimming pools for a month, no lakes, no sea, no steam rooms.
- No eye make-up for two weeks. Discard old mascara and kajal rather than reusing them.
- Take the drops on schedule. Antibiotics and steroids both matter, and the steroid taper controls how the cornea heals. Stopping early because the eye feels fine is the most common mistake we see. Space different drops five minutes apart.
- Sunglasses outdoors. Glare sensitivity is normal in the first weeks.
- Gym: light walking from day two, weights after a week, contact sports after a month. The concern with contact sports is a blow to the eye, not the exertion.
- Dusty travel: if you must be on a two-wheeler, wear wraparound protective glasses.
Weeks two to twelve: the part nobody warns you about
Vision does not settle in a straight line. It is common for it to be crisp in the morning and slightly soft by evening, or clear one day and hazy the next, for several weeks. Night-time haloes and starbursts around lights are usual in the first month or two and fade in the large majority of patients. Dry eye is the most common lasting complaint, and it typically improves over three to six months as the corneal nerves regenerate. Keep using preservative-free lubricants generously in that period; there is no limit and no harm.
Keep every follow-up appointment: day one, week one, month one, and month three. These visits are how we catch a healing problem while it is still easy to fix, and they take a few minutes each.
Two honest caveats. LASIK corrects distance vision; it does not prevent presbyopia, so if you are in your forties you will still need reading glasses on schedule. And a small proportion of patients need an enhancement procedure later, particularly at higher prescriptions. Ask what your surgeon's policy on that is before you book, not after.
If you are still deciding between procedures, the recovery rules differ a little between flap-based LASIK and flapless options such as SILK, and the details are covered on our refractive surgery page. If something during your recovery does not feel right, ring us rather than searching for it online. Our KPHB centre runs until 8:30pm for exactly these quick post-operative checks, and you can find timings for all our centres on the branches page.
