You can discard your eye shield the morning after your cataract surgery, but it's still advisable to sleep on your back for a couple of weeks so your eye doesn't come into contact with your pillow and pick up any particles from it. This will help your eye to heal and reduce the risk of infection.
Do not get your hair coloured or permed for 10 days after surgery. Do not bend over or do any strenuous activities, such as biking, jogging, weight lifting, or aerobic exercise, for 2 weeks or until your doctor says it is okay. Avoid swimming, hot tubs, gardening, and dusting for 1 to 2 weeks.
“High eye pressure can interfere with the incision before it fully heals,” says Eghrari. “Positions that put your head below your waist, such as bending over, can also increase eye pressure and should be avoided initially after surgery.”
Go with it. Sleeping a lot is how your body heals itself. Plenty of rest in the days following your procedure will speed up your recovery time.
After your cataract surgery procedure has been performed, you will need to wear a protective eye shield whenever you sleep, whether it's during the recommended eight hours per night or for an afternoon nap. Most eye care professionals agree that seven days is the required time frame for wearing an eye shield.
Patients with a dislocated IOL may experience a decrease or change in vision, diplopia, and/or glare. Additionally, they may report ocular pain or headaches from intermittent angle-closure and/or inflammation. Some patients also report seeing the edge of the IOL.
The full recovery period for cataract surgery typically lasts around 8 weeks, during which you will likely have several follow-up appointments with your eye doctor to ensure proper healing. While the full recovery period lasts around two months, 9 out of 10 patients are seeing better immediately following surgery.
Your body is using energy to heal itself, so you may feel more tired than normal - this is perfectly normal. Most patients however are very happy with the improvement in their vision.
Cataract surgery and sunglasses
Either way, the surgery has still left your retina vulnerable, and even if you have an IOL with that UV coating, you're still at risk to eye damage due to UV rays. You could even cause your cataracts to return as UV rays are one of the leading causes of cataracts.
Fatigue is normal following surgery and should improve day after day as your body begins to heal itself. Some people have it worse than others due to age, health, and the type of surgery they had, but with time and proper care, most will be able to build up their strength and energy levels.
How long after cataract surgery can you bend over? While it may seem an odd question, bending over or leaning forward for any length of time can put pressure on your eye. This can affect the healing process. Try to avoid bending over for the first two weeks after surgery.
Finding a sleeping position after Cataract Surgery
Ideally, the patient should sleep on his or her back – especially when the eye shield is no longer required.
Pre Op Care
On the day of your surgery, you should bathe and brush your teeth but avoid lotions and cosmetics, including perfume. Wear loose clothing that doesn't require pulling on or off over your head. Leave valuables and jewelry safe at home.
If your eye waters or itches, you can wipe it gently with a clean tissue or a sterile, moist cotton swab. Do not have a shower bath for the first 10 days after surgery. You can take a bath below the chin only and use a wet towel to wipe your face. Eye washing with normal water is not allowed for 10 days.
Most people can do very light exercise the day after surgery, including walking. For activities like biking, running, tennis, golf and sex, wait one week after your procedure. If you are a swimmer, doctors advise you to wait two weeks before going in the water to minimize your risk of infection and irritation.
Yes, after cataract surgery, you need to wear sunglasses to protect your eyes from the sun. After surgery, your eyes are healing and are more sensitive to the sun's rays than usual. Anytime you go outside, you need to wear sunglasses.
For the first few days after your surgery, it's normal to have blurred or double vision and watery/gritty eyes. Your eyes may also look red or bloodshot. These side effects will normally subside within a few days, but it can take four-six weeks for your eye to fully heal.
Table of Contents. Depending on your vision, you may need to wear glasses for up-close activities, such as reading, after cataract surgery. This means you'll likely need to wear glasses regularly but not all the time.
Most people feel little or no pain during or after cataract surgery. You'll receive a topical anesthetic (eye drops) to numb your eye during the surgery. Shortly after surgery, your eye may feel gritty or slightly tender, but over-the-counter pain medicine should improve this.
It is very common to have blurry or unclear vision in the days and sometimes even weeks after cataract removal. Most of the time, this is caused by normal swelling in the eye which occurs as a part of surgery. Patients with larger, denser and/or firmer cataracts are more likely to experience more inflammation.
Some Don'ts: Things to Avoid
Avoiding eating and drinking before your surgery. Don't wear makeup to the surgery appointment, and avoid wearing makeup until your ophthalmologist allows it so that you can better prevent infection. Avoid getting irritants in your eyes.
Your lens is held in place by delicate fibers called zonules. If you've had an eye lens replacement for cataract surgery or refractive lens exchange, your intraocular lens implant (IOL) is held in place by a small sac and these thin fibers.
You may experience your IOL becoming dislodged shortly after having cataract surgery or some years later. There are two main ways lens displacement happens: If there's a tear or defect in the capsular bag holding the lens, the IOL can slip out and fall into the vitreous cavity behind your eye.
Dislocation of the IOL can occur days to years after surgery and can be a result of factors during the original surgery, trauma to the eye, or diseases that affect the stability of the capsular bag.