What happens on the day of laser eye surgery?
Before your laser eye surgery
We understand that choosing to go ahead with laser eye surgery is a huge decision and is one that isn’t taken lightly. Understanding exactly what to expect during treatment helps a lot of our prospective patients feel more relaxed about coming in for their treatment, so we’re here today to share what happens on the day of laser eye surgery.
Prior to surgery day, you’ll have experienced a full consultation at your local Optimax clinic which includes a range of eye examinations to determine your suitability for laser eye surgery. You can find out more about what happens at a consultation here. When you book your treatment, you’ll be given a consent form detailing any potential risks and complications that can occur as a result of laser treatment, which were also discussed with you at your consultation.
You’ll also have met with your surgeon (usually via a video call) at least a week before your surgery, which is the perfect opportunity to ask any questions you may have after reading through the consent form. We ask that you bring the consent form with you to your surgery appointment and that you are familiar with all the information it sets out.
Arriving in the laser eye surgery clinic
Upon your arrival at the clinic, we’ll help you complete the final relevant paperwork necessary before proceeding to surgery. Following this, we will conduct some additional tests to ensure that your eyes are still in good health and that we are happy to proceed to treatment. Your surgeon will then conduct a medical review and discuss the treatment plan with you. They will also talk about realistic expectations once more and will go over what to expect for the short period you are in the treatment room.
After this, your patient advisor will explain your eye drops regime for the first few days after surgery. They’ll tell you which drops to use at which point, and will also run through general post-surgery care with tips to follow for a smooth recovery, such as avoiding getting water in your eyes and wearing protective eye shields at night. There are separate eye drop containers for your left and right eyes and these are labelled to ensure that cross contamination between eyes is avoided.
Following this talk, you’ll be given a hairnet and some covers for your shoes, as the treatment room is a sterile environment and this minimises the chance of contamination.
Inside the laser eye surgery treatment room
Once you enter the treatment room, you will be asked to lie down on the operating bed and some numbing eye drops will be administered to prevent you from feeling discomfort during the treatment. In the room with you will be the surgeon, who you have just had your final check with, as well as a laser assistant and a nurse who will support both you and the surgeon during treatment.
Once you’re lying down, the nurse will clean the area around your eye and an eyelid holder is placed onto your eye to keep it open throughout the treatment. The surgeon will explain each step of the process to you to ensure that you feel at ease and know exactly what’s happening at which point. The laser is applied to your eye for a matter of seconds. The number of seconds varies depending on what your prescription is, but can range from around 10-30 seconds per eye.
Once one eye has been treated, the surgeon will repeat the process on the other eye, and they will count down the seconds to you so you know how long you have left. Most patients are in and out of the treatment room within about 10 minutes. While the laser is only on for a matter of seconds, the rest of the time in theatre is for preparation purposes and to ensure that the correct laser settings are being applied.
After your laser eye surgery
Just after treatment has finished is often the ‘wow’ moment for patients where, even though their vision might be a bit blurry, they can still see the clock on the wall and read the numbers! At this point, you’ll be guided out of the treatment room to an area in the clinic where you can comfortably sit down, have a sip of water, and close your eyes to rest them, if you feel you need to. Before you leave the clinic and make your way home, you’ll speak to your surgeon again who will perform some final post-surgery checks. This is just to confirm that surgery has gone as planned and that they’re satisfied for you to continue your recovery at home.
After this chat, you can leave the clinic and relax in the comfort of your own home or, if you’ve travelled for the treatment, a nearby hotel. You cannot drive after laser eye surgery, so do make sure that you have someone to drive you home, unless you are relying on public transport. Even if using public transport to travel home, we still recommend having a friend or loved one with you as your vision may be blurry, and you may find it uncomfortable to open your eyes. If you’re in a city, we would recommend avoiding underground trains as this can be a dusty environment which affects your eyes’ healing process.
You should expect to be in the clinic for around 4 hours on the day of your laser eye surgery, and then be prepared to come back for your check-up either one day later (for LASIK patients) or 3-5 days later (for LASEK patients). Read more about laser eye surgery aftercare here.
We hope that this summary of what to expect on laser treatment day has helped you feel less apprehensive about your upcoming laser eye surgery. If you still have questions after reading this, feel free to contact your clinic directly, or give us a call on 0800 093 1110 and we’ll be able to answer your queries. We look forward to you achieving the vision you deserve!
