What Can I Do And What Should I Not Do After Cataract Surgery – Cataract surgery is a common and safe procedure that is performed to help improve vision. After the surgery, there are certain things that you can do to ensure a successful recovery, and other things that you should avoid. First and foremost, you should follow your doctor’s instructions closely. This includes taking your medications as prescribed, using your eye drops, and attending all follow-up appointments. You should also avoid activities that involve bending, lifting, or any other strenuous activity. Additionally, you should wear sunglasses when outdoors to protect your eyes from sun and wind damage. Furthermore, avoid rubbing your eyes and use caution when using makeup. Lastly, you should avoid swimming or sitting in a hot tub for at least two weeks after surgery. By following these article, you can rest assured that your cataract surgery will be a success.
This article describes the do’s and don’ts after small incision cataract surgery according to Peter Simcock, The Eye Expert, an Exeter based Consultant Eye Surgeon specialising in cataract surgery and the medical and surgical treatment of retinal and macular conditions.
In this article I would like to discuss what you can and cannot do following small incision cataract surgery. with small incision surgery there are no stitches and it’s quite a robust operation, and is in fact quite difficult to damage the eye. This compares to the old fashioned technique where a big wound was created and lots of stitches placed in which case it could be very easy to damage the eye following surgery. But this no longer applies to modern cataract surgery. Immediately after the operation the vision can be a little blurred for the first 24 to 48 hours. And this is due to the fact that the pupil can often be enlarged for this period of time. The drops that are placed into the iron prior to cataract surgery very powerful drops to enlarge the pupil, that sometimes takes this length of time for the effect of the drops to wear off, and it is not as what pupil gets to its normal size, that the vision becomes crisp.
The eye can be a little gritty immediately after surgery but this should certainly be no significant discomfort, and the discomfort should usually be alleviated with paracetamol. The most important thing after the operation is to ensure that the drops are instilled regularly, and they normally require for four to six weeks, and the drop is a combination of an antibiotic to prevent infection and a steroid to damp down inflammation, and should be instilled four times a day. It’s often easy to do it with breakfast lunch and tea and before you go to bed at night. The eyes are little sticky and contains mucus especially on the first post-operative day and if this occurs get some boiled water that’s cooled down or some normal saline solution and a cotton ball and gently wipe away the mucus on the lid. But don’t be afraid to touch the eye or touch the lid certainly because it’s quite a robust operation forming small incision another Verrilli mentioned it’s quite difficult to damage the eye the eye.
May also look quite red and provided the eyes look particularly uncomfortable just a little gritty and provide that the vision is good, that redness is likely to be due to a little hemorrhage that occurred where the blood vessel rupturing at the time of the local anaesthetic injection. And normally fades gradually over a period of a few weeks.
So what are the do’s and don’ts following a cataract operation. Well you can bend over pick up things straight away showering within 12 to 24 hours, but try and avoid getting simply water into the village just because it’s a little bit uncomfortable. You hope to avoid dusty environments for the first couple of weeks and also make up for a similar period of time. With regard to sport I would suggest avoiding golf for about one to two weeks, and serving in tennis which is like more strenuous activities I would avoid for approximately four weeks. Driving is also an important issue, and the driving basically depends on when you feel comfortable using both eyes together. So certainly not within the first 48 hours but if after this period of time you feel you can see a number plate at the requisite distance, so pace it out at 20 meters and provided both eyes are comfortable when being used together, and there is no other problems such as loss of side vision. Then you are allowed to drive from the legal point of view
What can I do after cataract surgery?
According to Miss Sivagnanavel from The Sight Clinic, so what can you do after cataract surgery and physically what should you avoid. Most people will be able to assume almost all normal household activities, such as cooking or walking around the house, the day after the operation. The eye is certainly comfortable enough to allow them to do that. Within a week normal activities such as walking outdoors, anything that’s not too strenuous including yoga is absolutely acceptable.
There’s a myth that you can’t bend or lift follow a cataract surgery, and I really want to emphasize that is a myth. It is safe to bend it is safe to lift gentle things. The only problem with bending is that once you’ve had one eye operated on. The brain does get a little bit confused on judging distances. So I would ask you to bend very cautiously and make sure that you don’t hit the operated eye against any objects nearby. Activities such as reading watching TV are perfectly acceptable from the word go. There’s the I will not get damaged by doing anything like that.
One of the embarrassing questions people ask me about is when can we return to sex and it is usually safe to do so within about two or three days of surgery. It’s important to maintain absolute hygiene at all times. So another question that patients ask me about is when can they drive. The DVLA does allow driving if you can see a license plate at twenty point five meters, or read up to 612 on a standard chart and most patients will be able to do that ninety-five percent of patients will be able to do that unaided following surgery. There’s no clear timeline on when that is the case it is really up to the patient to judge that their vision is safe within those parameters to do so. And certainly at your consultation I’ll be able to guide you on that as well.
In terms of what should be avoided there isn’t a lot that could damage the eye the most important aspect is that you don’t contaminate the eye, because that would put the eye at risk of infection. So it’s perfectly alright to shower but if possible keep dirty water flowing away from the eye. Some of my patients choose to have their first hair wash at a hairdressers and that’s quite a nice pampering experience. Avoid swimming for two weeks because even though the water is chlorinated, it can be a source of infection. I would ask patients to avoid activities such as gardening in the first week, in case they accidentally rubbed soiled into their eyes. Apart from that there are no major restrictions you.