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Post Operative Care

What are the precautions to be taken after surgery?

• Use the eye drops and medicines as prescribed
• Avoid rubbing or squeezing your eye
• Protection: As advised by your doctor, you may wear the protective eye shield at night for first week. Dark eyeglasses may be worn during the daytime, especially outdoors, to avoid any discomfort that you may have from bright light and also to prevent any injury to eye.
• Face wash: For the first few days, avoid splashing water directly into the eye. You may use a clean, soft, wet towel to wipe your face.
• Shaving: Shaving of the beard is permitted after the operation.
• Bathing: Body bath (below the neck) may be resumed after the first day, but avoid taking a shower or a bath in the bathtub for the first week after surgery.
• Head bath: One may wash the hair with the head tilted backwards to avoid any water splashing into the eye.
• Games: Normal daily activities including walking, reading and watching television may be resumed soon after the operation. However avoid strenuous activities like jogging, lifting weights, swimming, gardening, aerobics, contact sports etc. for 1-2 months.
• Sex: You can resume your sex life a week or two after the operation after consulting your doctor.
• Makeup: Avoid eye makeup for 6 weeks.
• Diet: There are no dietary restrictions and you may take your routine diet. However, the restrictions as per you pre-existing medical problems, if any, are to continue. Avoid constipation by taking high fiber diet and plenty of fluids.
• Driving: Avoid driving unless the surgeon permits you.
• Job: You may get back to your job in 1-4 weeks after surgery depending on your profession. Ask your surgeon about this.
• Normal symptoms: The following symptoms are normal and are not a cause for alarm. These are slight redness, mild watering, mild irritation, glare and slight drooping of upper eyelid. These will remain to some extent for 6-8 weeks.
• Alarming symptoms: In case of any pain, injury, decrease in vision or flashes of light in the operated eye, contact your surgeon immediately.

How to apply eye drops?

1. Wash hands
2. Tilt your head back and look at the ceiling
3. Gently pull the lower eyelid down until it forms a small pocket, or pouch.
4. Squeeze the bottle or the dropper to release a single drop into the eye. Take care not to touch the eye or eyelid with the nozzle of the bottle.
5. Release the lower lid and close eyelid for 30 seconds. Dab excess with tissue.

Special precautions:

1. In order to keep the eyedrops clean:
   • do not allow the nozzle to touch the eye or anything else
   • do not allow other people to use your eyedrops
   • replace the cap of the eyedrops immediately after use
   • discard the eyedrops four weeks after first opening
2. If you are using more than one kind of eyedrop in the same eye, wait five minutes between drops.
3. If you are using both drops & ointment in the same eye, always use the drops first and wait five minutes before applying the ointment.
4. If you wear contact lenses, you should stop wearing them for the duration of your treatment unless otherwise directed by your doctor.

How to apply eye ointment?

1. Wash hands.
2. Tilt head back and look at ceiling.
3. Gently pull the lower eyelid down until it forms a small pocket, or pouch.
4. Hold the tube parallel to the eye to avoid injury. Squeeze a line of approximately ½ cm (¼ inch) of ointment into the pouch without touching the eye, lid or lashes.
5. Release the lower lid and allow to blink. Wipe away the excess ointment with a tissue.

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