PostOp Eyes

What eye surgery recovery actually looks like, day by day

You had the procedure. Now your eye is blurry, scratchy, or watering, and you want to know two things: is this normal, and when can you get back to driving, working, and living. This site answers exactly that, with recovery timelines drawn from the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the National Eye Institute, and peer-reviewed sources. Every page tells you when to stop reading and call your surgeon instead.

General information, not medical advice. Your surgeon's instructions always come first.

Calm illustration of an eye with a sunrise inside the iris

Pick your procedure

Cataract Surgery

Typical full recovery: 4-8 weeks

Cataract surgery removes the eye's clouded natural lens and replaces it with a clear artificial lens, called an intraocular lens or IOL. It ...

32 recovery guides

LASIK

Typical full recovery: 3-6 months for vision to stabilize

LASIK is a laser procedure that reshapes the cornea, the clear front window of the eye, so light focuses more sharply on the retina. The sur...

24 recovery guides

Blepharoplasty (Eyelid Surgery)

Typical full recovery: Most swelling gone in 2 to 3 weeks, final result over several months

Blepharoplasty is surgery on the eyelids to remove or reshape extra skin, muscle, and fat. The American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Re...

24 recovery guides

Eye Injections (Intravitreal Injections)

Typical full recovery: 24-48 hours for most irritation

An intravitreal injection is a shot of medicine placed into the gel inside the eye. It is the standard treatment for wet age-related macular...

18 recovery guides

PRK (Photorefractive Keratectomy)

Typical full recovery: Vision usually stabilizes over 1-3 months, sometimes up to 6

PRK is laser vision correction that works on the front surface of the eye. Your cornea is the clear dome at the front of the eye, and its ou...

23 recovery guides

Retinal Detachment Surgery

Typical full recovery: Vision often starts improving around 4 to 6 weeks, with months to settle

Retinal detachment happens when the retina, the light-sensing layer at the back of the eye, pulls away from the wall of the eye. NEI calls i...

16 recovery guides

Vitrectomy

Typical full recovery: 6 weeks to several months, depending on the bubble

A vitrectomy is surgery on the back of the eye. The surgeon removes the clear gel that fills the middle of the eye, called the vitreous, so ...

20 recovery guides

YAG Laser Capsulotomy

Typical full recovery: About 1-2 days

During cataract surgery, the surgeon removes the cloudy natural lens but leaves the thin, clear membrane that held it in place. That membran...

16 recovery guides

Corneal Transplant

Typical full recovery: Weeks to a few months for DMEK/DSAEK, up to a year or longer for a full thickness (PK) graft

A corneal transplant, also called keratoplasty, replaces damaged corneal tissue with healthy donor tissue. The National Eye Institute notes ...

19 recovery guides

SLT Laser (Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty)

Typical full recovery: 1-2 days of comfort recovery; 6-8 weeks for the pressure effect

Selective laser trabeculoplasty, usually just called SLT, is a quick outpatient laser treatment for open-angle glaucoma and high eye pressur...

13 recovery guides

Trabeculectomy

Typical full recovery: 6-8 weeks for vision, longer for pressure

Trabeculectomy is glaucoma surgery that creates a small guarded opening in the sclera, the white wall of the eye, so fluid can leave through...

17 recovery guides

Tube Shunt Surgery (Glaucoma Drainage Device)

Typical full recovery: 4-8 weeks, longer for pressure to settle

Tube shunt surgery, also called a glaucoma drainage device or aqueous shunt, places a small soft tube in the front of the eye that carries f...

16 recovery guides

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