When will I start to see laser eye surgery results and how long will it last?
Interview transcription:
In an interview, Alex Shortt was asked when you will start to see laser eye surgery results and how long results last.
Interviewer: When do you start to see results and how long do these results last?
Alex Shortt: Literally within hours of surgery. So typically, what patients describe is, immediately afterward they find their eyes are much more in focus. You know, the world is in focus. They also describe a haziness or a fogginess over the vision. That typically clears within 12 to 24 hours, and the next day, patients typically are seeing 20/20 or close to it.
There’s a whole load of misinformation about how long laser eye surgery lasts.
The truth here is that if your eyes have finished growing and your prescription is stable, then after you have laser eye surgery, your vision should stay corrected for the rest of your life. There is a very very tiny percentage of patients who the eye then starts to grow again, and they might require a small prescription. But that’s a very rare group of patients.
The vast majority of patients, once you’ve locked in that prescription, corrected the vision, that’s it until they get to their 50s or 60s where they need to wear reading glasses.
In terms of when do you see the benefits, and when does your vision recover? The recovery from LASIK and SMILE is 24 hours. Within this time spend your vision should gradually sharpen to the same as it was when you were wearing glasses or contact lenses. I’ve had patients say to me that they keep going to take off their glasses, but the glasses weren’t there.
We also have patients who go to take out their contact lenses. But they’ve had laser eye surgery, and they forget. It’s usually after a few beers.
If you’d like to know more about vision corrective surgery, book a free initial screening today and I will personally answer your questions. Alternatively, take our free suitability quiz to find out which treatment you are suitable for.
About the author
Mr Alex J. Shortt | Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon
MB BCh MSc PhD FRCOphth PGDipCatRef
I’m Alex Shortt, a highly trained academic researcher and Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon based in London’s famous Harley Street medical district. I trained and worked as a consultant for 14 years at London’s Moorfields Eye Hospital. I specialise in advanced technologies for correcting vision, including cataract surgery, implantable contact lenses and laser vision correction.
