Cataract surgery is a very versatile and beneficial procedure that can help remove your cataracts and repair your vision. However, many people worry that the recovery time related to the surgery will be quite extensive or painful, which is often not going to be the case. Below are a few of the things that you can expect from cataract surgery.

Cloudy Or Distorted Vision

One of the first things to keep in mind about cataract surgery is not to expect perfect vision as soon as the surgery is completed. On the day of the surgery, you vision will often be blurry or distorted, but this will usually fade quite quickly. In many cases, your vision can be clear by the end of the day, but it may still take a week or two before your vision is perfectly clear.

Medication

When planning what items you will need to aid your recovery after the surgery, you will want to have over-the-counter painkillers to help you deal with the discomfort that many people experience shortly after the surgery. In most cases, prescription pain medication is not necessary, but your doctor will most likely be willing to prescribe some if over-the-counter painkillers are not helping enough. Now, before you buy or take any over-the-counter medication, please make sure to speak to your doctor in order to make sure that they are safe to take when combined with other medications that you will be taking, and that it will not slow the healing process.

You will also want to make sure that you keep eye drops on hand throughout the recovery period. A doctor will prescribe you eye drops that will help fight off infection and heal the eye. However, over-the-counter eye drops are a good idea because many people experience a lot of eye redness and dry eyes while they are recovering from the procedure.

Bruising

Finally, you will need to keep in mind that some bruising around your eyes is going to be normal. In many cases, you may have bruising around your eyes from any injected anesthesia that may make it look like you have a black eye, but do not panic. The bruising will usually fade within a few days and is not a sign of complications with your recovery or surgery. 

Speak to an eye doctor today in order to discuss the many ways in which cataract surgery can help you. The recovery process is typically not all that bad, as long as you keep in mind that some bruising around your eyes and distorted vision is normal. In addition, consider taking over-the-counter pain medication and eye drops (with your physician's approval) in order to help you deal with any discomfort. Contact Northwest Ophthalmology for more information.

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