Days 2 to 7 After an Eye Injection: What Is Left

By day 2 or 3 the scratchy feeling has usually faded and the eye feels normal again. The BMJ Open study of injection patients found soreness and irritation described as lasting up to roughly 36 hours, which fits what most people report. If your eye still feels like sandpaper on day 3, that is worth mentioning to the retina office even if nothing else is wrong.

The red spot on the white of the eye hangs around the longest. The ASRS says this small bleed at the needle site usually heals within a week, and the AAO says it usually clears within a week too. It is on the surface of the eye, not inside it, and it does not affect vision. It often looks worse on day 2 or 3 than it did on day 1 as the blood spreads out a little, then fades through orange and yellow.

Any floaters or bubbles from the injection usually thin out and disappear over this stretch. The NEI describes floating air bubbles as a short-term effect. New floaters that appear after the first day are a different story and the ASRS lists increased floaters after the first day as a reason to contact your retina specialist.

This week is also the main window for the rare infection called endophthalmitis. In one published series of endophthalmitis cases after anti-VEGF injections, the median time from the injection to the patient presenting was 4 days, with a range of 1 to 18 days. The infection is uncommon. A large French review of 316,576 injections put presumed endophthalmitis at about 2 in 10,000 injections. But because it is treatable when caught early, the rule during days 2 to 7 is simple: getting better is normal, getting worse is a phone call.