Surgery can be stressful. This information will help you understand what you can expect. And it will help you safely prepare for surgery.

Preparing for surgery

• Be sure you have someone to take you home. Anesthesia and pain medicine will make it unsafe for you to drive or get home on your own.
• Understand exactly what surgery is planned, along with the risks, benefits, and other options.
• If you take a medicine that prevents blood clots, your doctor may tell you to stop taking it before your surgery. Or your doctor may tell you to keep taking it. (These medicines include aspirin and other blood thinners.) Make sure that you understand exactly what your doctor wants you to do.
• Tell your doctor ALL the medicines, vitamins, supplements, and herbal remedies you take. Some may increase the risk of problems during your surgery. Your doctor will tell you if you should stop taking any of them before the surgery and how soon to do it.
• Make sure your doctor and the hospital have a copy of your advance directive. If you don’t have one, you may want to prepare one. It lets others know your health care wishes. It’s a good thing to have before any type of surgery or procedure.

Laser in-situ keratomileusis (LASIK) is surgery to improve your vision. The doctor used surgical tools to keep your eye open and to apply pressure to the outside layer of your eyeball (cornea). The doctor used a special blade or laser to cut a flap in your cornea. Another laser was used to remove or reshape your eye tissue. Then the doctor put the flap back, added drops to your eye, and placed a clear, protective shield over your eye.

Your eye may burn, itch, be teary, or feel like there is something in it for 3 or 4 days after surgery. But it's important not to rub your eye. Rubbing your eye could damage it.

You will probably be able to return to work or your normal routine 1 to 3 days after surgery. For a few days, you may have blurry vision or watery eyes. Your eyes may be bloodshot for up to 3 weeks. This is because LASIK surgery can cause small blood vessels in your eye to break. Some people also find that they are sensitive to light or see starbursts or halos for 1 to 3 weeks after surgery.

If you have eye pain, your doctor may prescribe drops or medicines. You can expect your eye to get better each day, but it may feel dry for 1 to 3 months after surgery. Over-the-counter or prescription eyedrops can help with dryness.

For some people, it takes 3 to 6 months to get the full benefits of surgery and to see as clearly as possible.

The risk of complications from LASIK surgery is low and decreases with a more experienced surgeon. Look for a corneal specialist or surgeon who does the surgery often.

Complications and side effects from LASIK may include:

• Clouded vision (clouding of the cornea caused by inflammation during healing). This usually goes away on its own. But your doctor may give you medicine or do a procedure to relieve the inflammation.
• Night vision problems, such as halos. (These are often described as a shimmering circle around light sources such as headlights or street lamps.)
• Glare, or being more sensitive to bright light.
• Double vision (diplopia), usually in one eye.
• New astigmatism caused by wrinkling in the corneal flap or other flap complications.
• Loss of best corrected vision. (This is the best possible vision you can achieve using glasses or contact lenses.)
• Overcorrection or undercorrection.

Serious vision-threatening complications are rare but may include:

• Infection of the cornea (keratitis).
• Elevated pressure inside the eye (intraocular pressure) leading to glaucoma.