First few months Although some patients fully recover their vision within the first month, most people achieve improved vision within two or three months. At this time, your doctor may prescribe a new prescription for your eyeglasses or contact lenses for the best results. The consensus seems to be that it takes 1 to 3 months. Therefore, you should expect your eyes to have stabilized 2 to 4 months after surgery.
You'll probably have another appointment with your eye doctor around that time. Within 2 to 3 months after cataract surgery, your eye should be comfortable and your vision should be clear. If you have residual nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism, you may need prescription eyeglasses. To reduce the need for eyeglasses, a laser vision correction procedure, such as LASIK or PRK, can often be performed to sharpen your eyesight.
Although vision may be blurred right after surgery, it should start to improve within a few days. You may also notice that colors appear brighter, since cataracts tend to make colors look more muted. In the meantime, taking some basic precautions can ensure that cataract surgery is successful and uncomplicated. Cataract surgery is a common outpatient procedure that involves removing the lens from the eye and replacing it with an artificial intraocular lens (IOL), which works just like the natural lens.
Although laser cataract surgery is faster and less invasive than traditional surgery, you should take time off to relax and recover at home. Recovery from cataract surgery usually lasts a short time, and you can resume many of your normal daily activities. Cataracts don't grow back on artificial lenses. However, something called a “secondary cataract” may develop approximately 4 to 6 months after surgery.
According to the American Optometric Association, approximately 90 percent of patients say they have better vision after cataract surgery. Among other anxieties, they wonder how long it will take for their vision to disappear after cataract surgery. Millions of people have cataract surgery every year, making it the most commonly performed operation in the U.S. UU.
While cataract surgery is generally a safe procedure, there is, as with any surgical procedure, the risk of complications. This same study found that about 64 percent of study participants experienced mild dry eyes after cataract surgery. This is what causes many people to exclaim about how amazed they were by the results of successful cataract surgery (like most) and talk about it for weeks, describing how much clearer their vision became afterwards. Seek medical attention right away if you experience sudden changes in vision after cataract surgery.
