Benefits of LASIK Goggles After Surgery
After improving your vision with LASIK, goggles can help protect your eyes and ensure they heal properly. At Deen-Gross Eye Centers in Hobart and Merrillville, patients are routinely provided with LASIK goggles after surgery.
What Are LASIK Goggles?
LASIK goggles are protective eyewear that protects your eyes after surgery. They are comprised of hard plastic lenses with soft foam edges, and are held in place with an elastic strap. Many LASIK goggles have dark lenses, similar to sunglasses, although transparent lenses are available as well. Some are also equipped with air vents to prevent lenses from fogging.
Benefits of LASIK Goggles
People may instinctively rub their eyes when they feel irritation or dryness. Goggles protect eyes from unintentional rubbing, particularly during the night. They also create a barrier between the eyes and any potentially irritating materials, such as pillowcase fibers.
Until the corneal flap created during surgery heals, your eyes will be susceptible to infection, the risk of which can be significantly reduced by wearing goggles. By ensuring a quick, complication-free healing process, you are helping to ensure successful LASIK results that you can enjoy for life.
When Should LASIK Goggles Be Worn?
Immediately following your LASIK surgery, goggles will help to alleviate your light sensitivity, and should be worn for the remainder of the day. Post-surgical dryness and itching may make it tempting to rub your eyes, so goggles are especially important immediately following your procedure.
Because your eyes are especially susceptible to irritation during the night, due to unconscious rubbing and contact with your pillow, your surgeon will recommend that you wear your goggles to bed for the next week or two, as your eyes continue to heal. Goggles can also protect your eyes from the pressure caused by sleeping facedown, which could damage your delicate corneal flap.
As you’re healing, you should wear goggles if you engage in any athletic activities. It’s especially important to protect your eyes during group sports, which have a higher likelihood of impact.
Your ophthalmologist will advise you not to swim for two weeks after your surgery. However, if you resume swimming at that point, you should wear goggles while in the water for an additional two weeks. They will protect your eyes from any chemicals or natural irritants in pool and ocean water.
Follow Your Ophthalmologist’s Instructions
To ensure your eyes heal quickly and seamlessly, it’s important to follow your ophthalmologist’s directions about when and how long to wear your LASIK goggles. Because you’ll have a series of follow-up appointments scheduled - often as soon as one week after your procedure - your ophthalmologist will be able to monitor your healing progress and shorten or extend the length of time you’ll need to wear your goggles accordingly.
Learn More about LASIK
After choosing to restore crisp, clear vision with LASIK surgery, wearing goggles is one of the best things you can do to ensure a proper healing process. Talk to your ophthalmologist prior to your procedure about when and how long you should wear your LASIK goggles. To learn more, or schedule a consultation, contact the Deen-Gross Eye Centers today.
