Headaches after LASIK surgery
March 24, 2017 10:01 AM Subscribe
I had LASIK surgery about a week ago and have had no side effects, except a persistent mild, possibly eyestrain-related headache that hasn't left since I had the surgery. Has anyone else had this effect and has it typically gone away?
I had LASIK surgery last Thursday and it went really well. I haven't had any real side effects and according to the optometrist, I have 20/20 vision. I definitely see dramatically better than I did before and have no trouble going about daily life tasks and my job, which involves a lot of staring at small text on a computer screen. I'm overall very pleased.
My issue is that I don't see quite as well as I did before the surgery (I think I was at better than 20/20 before) and I've had this mild, continuous headache pretty much since I've gotten it. I suspect it's from the change in my vision. I was wondering if anyone else who'd had this surgery had experienced anything like this and if it went away once you became more used to your new vision?
I had LASIK surgery last Thursday and it went really well. I haven't had any real side effects and according to the optometrist, I have 20/20 vision. I definitely see dramatically better than I did before and have no trouble going about daily life tasks and my job, which involves a lot of staring at small text on a computer screen. I'm overall very pleased.
My issue is that I don't see quite as well as I did before the surgery (I think I was at better than 20/20 before) and I've had this mild, continuous headache pretty much since I've gotten it. I suspect it's from the change in my vision. I was wondering if anyone else who'd had this surgery had experienced anything like this and if it went away once you became more used to your new vision?
Best answer: I had LASIK on a Thursday, took Friday off, and went back to work on Monday. I had a slightly headachey/tired feeling after lots of close-focus tasks for a week or two afterwards. It just slowly went away over time. I attributed it to my eyes relearning how to focus. My vision had some halos at night or when looking at bright objects, but those went away completely as the LASIK flaps healed.
posted by strangecargo at 8:42 PM on March 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by strangecargo at 8:42 PM on March 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks for the answers! They were very helpful. I've been using the lubricating drops a lot more and wearing sunglasses as much as possible and the headache-y feeling is much improved.
posted by armadillo1224 at 6:19 AM on March 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by armadillo1224 at 6:19 AM on March 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
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1) ALWAYS have polarized sunglasses, even just to cut glare. You will feel a difference pretty quickly in terms of strain. I felt like I was being stabbed to death without them.
2) You want to put in lubricating eyedrops even after you think you don't need them anymore. I STILL do them 1-2x/day.
3) Your vision will settle out and sharpen up over time as your eyes continue to heal. Presurgery my left eye was weaker than my right, which is still true, but my vision is overall 100% better.
4) Your sense of where you should be in relation to reading material is going to be weird for a while. I think it took me MONTHS to figure out where to put my kindle.
5) Driving is another one - it took me a while to figure out how long it would take me to focus and WHERE to focus.
Weird little tactical things like this took me a while.
posted by Medieval Maven at 1:00 PM on March 24, 2017 [1 favorite]