On Day of Surgery

During the pre-operative examination, the ophthalmologist will dilate the eye’ pupil to properly examine the retina. It will take then 4 to 5 hours to get the pupil constricted again. No surgery can be done during that period of time; therefore the ophthalmologists of Rutnin-Gimbel recommend to not have surgery before the following day of the examination, and to strictly follow the preparation instructions.

Preparation for Surgery: Instructions

Before the day of surgery

• Stop wearing soft lenses 7 days and hard lens or gas permeable lens 3 weeks before the day of surgery. Please note that result of surgery might otherwise be affected.

On day of surgery

• Do not use eyeliner, eyeshadow, mascara, nor any facial makeup, as the powder may get in to the operative field. Wash your face thoroughly before you leave home.
• Do not wear any perfume, as alcohol steams might affect the laser equipment.
• Wear comfortable clothing to avoid squeezing of the eye(s)

After surgery

• Plan to have someone to drive you back home
• Eat normally.
• To prevent the cornea flap from dislodging, do not squeeze your eye(s) hard and keep them (it) closed during the first 6 hours. Take one sleeping pill and sleep for 6 hours.
• Do not remove the eye shield for 6-8 hours.
• You may experience irritation, burring, and watering of the eyes during the first 4 hours. Closing the eyes will relieve some of these symptoms.
• Keep the cover eye shield on until the next morning, in order to relieve from eye irritation.
• After surgery, your doctor will inform you if you should start or not the use of antibiotics (or antibiotics mixed with anti- inflammatory drugs) and drop or not artificial tears for the first night.
• Red eyes from broken blood vessels are expected in most cases. It will do no harm and will fade away within 2 weeks.

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