Your doctor warned you about getting water in the eye after lasik. But sometimes it happens. You weren't paying attention and some dripped in while you were taking a shower. What exactly do you need to do?
Fortunately, chances are very low that anything bad will happen to your eyes. But when water gets into the eye after lasik you will want to use extra artificial tears, notify your doctor and monitor for the development of any symptoms of infection or dry eye.
By paying attention to all of these details, you can prevent the water from derailing your recovery after lasik. But before we get into what you need to do if you get water in the eyes, let's examine what water can actually do to the eyes after lasik. That way we know what we are looking for.
Water restrictions after lasik
Lasik has a quick healing time, but we want to be extra cautious. In order to allow everything to heal up perfectly after lasik, it is important to keep the eyes dry for at least two weeks after the procedure.
This definitely involves avoiding swimming in lakes, oceans and pools. But this also involves avoiding splashing water into the eyes. This includes normal tap water when you are showering or washing your face. (But of course this does not include the medicated eye drops you use after lasik or the preservative free artificial tears)
So why do these restrictions exist?
Preventing infection from developing
We want to prevent any bacteria from making its way underneath the lasik flap and growing. There are actually many steps during and after lasik which are designed to prevent an infection.
- Lasik is a very clean procedure. The instruments used in lasik are fully surgically sterilized. It's very difficult for any new bacteria to get introduced onto the eye.
- Following the procedure, you will take an antibiotic drop for one week. This further prevents bacteria from growing.
And these steps work very well. Infections after lasik are very rare.
The further you get from the procedure, the less likely you will develop an infection as well. The lasik flap heals over within a day after lasik. The layer of cells on top of the cornea called epithelial cells bridge the gap over the lasik flap to secure it in place and provide a barrier for bacteria to get in.
But initially the connections between these cells are weaker than usual. Bacteria can slip in between small breaks between these cells, travel underneath the lasik flap and cause an infection. Over time, these connections strengthen to cut this risk.
But we want to go a step further to prevent infections even more. We want to continue to avoid introducing bacteria to the eye. This is done by avoiding water. Water contains bacteria. Now, not all water is equal, some water will contain more bacteria than others. Lakes and rivers will contain more bacteria than tap water. But in general, avoiding all excess bacteria, even small amounts is a good thing.
Prevent worsening of dry eye
Following lasik, everyone will have some dry eye. Within the cornea are tiny nerves. These nerves regulate the production of tears that coat and protect the cornea. These nerves get disrupted during lasik. Until these nerves grow back, less tears are produced and the cornea becomes more dry.
One of the main goals after lasik is to treat this dry eye to prevent it from getting worse. If the dry eye gets worse, inflammation starts to build up on the eye. This inflammation in turn causes more dry eye. It becomes a negative cycle.
But any irritate to the eye can cause inflammation and make the dry eye worse. And where can irritants be found? You guessed it: water. In the ocean, salt can irritate the eyes. The chemicals and chlorine in a pool can irritate your eyes. Even in the shower, you can get soapy or shampoo-y water in the eyes. All of these are a nuisance even without surgery but can set back your recovery after lasik and best avoided.
So what do you do if you do get water in the eye?
It happens. As much as you try, sometimes extra water will splash into the eye. So here's what you should do if it happened to you:
- Don't try to rub or dab away the excess water with a towel. You may instinctively try this or think this will be beneficial to get any excess water out. But rubbing or dabbing the eye soon after lasik comes with the risk of causing the lasik flap to dislocate out of position. This is something you want to avoid.
- Add extra artificial tears to your eyes. Adding extra preservative free artificial tears to the eye will dilute any bacteria contaminates or chemicals that made their way to the surface of your eye. It will wash away any extra water that may still be remaining on your eyes.
- Notify your doctor. Most likely nothing will come out of water splashing in the eyes. But it is still a good idea to notify your doctor after it happens just to make them aware. They may not need to see you after this happens but they will most likely give you further instruction on what to do or watch for.
- Monitor for any development of blurred vision, increased redness to the eye or pain. These can be signs that an infection is developing. Sometimes you may even be able to see parts of your cornea that are more white and cloudy if you examine it closely in a mirror - but not always. Because it can be difficult to notice blurred vision in one eye when both eyes are open, periodically cover and compare your eyes to look for any changes. If any of these symptoms develop, you will need to be seen urgently to examine for an infection.
- Use artificial tears more frequently if the eye feels more dry or irritated. You will want to treat any excess dry eye aggressively to prevent it from getting worse. This means increasing the frequency of your artificial tears up to every hour if necessary until the eyes start to return to how they were.
Most likely nothing will happen. After-all, the risk of infection after lasik is very rare. You don't need to stress yourself out if you do get water in the eye. You just need to be vigilant to make sure you pick up any changes should they do occur.
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