Eye Surgery Pre-Op Guide

How to prepare before eye surgery

Preparation for eye surgery is mostly about the weeks before you fly, not the morning itself. Your Luna Clinic advisor helps you get organised, while all clinical decisions remain with your independent partner surgeon.

1. Stop wearing contact lenses before your assessment. Contact lenses press on the cornea and change its shape, so measurements taken while you are still wearing them are unreliable. Soft lenses usually come out a week or two before your examination, and rigid or gas-permeable lenses considerably longer, sometimes several weeks, because they mould the cornea far more. Only your surgeon can set the right window for your eyes and your lens history, and you stay in glasses from that point until after surgery.
2. Expect a full examination, not a quick eye test. Every eye surgery trip starts with diagnostics rather than surgery. Depending on the procedure this includes corneal topography (a map of your cornea), pachymetry (how thick it is), pupil measurement, a refraction check and a look at the retina. For cataract or lens replacement surgery you also have biometry, a precise measurement of the eye used to calculate the power of the lens to be implanted. Those numbers decide whether you are a candidate and which technique or lens suits you.
3. Bring your prescription history. Your surgeon needs evidence that your prescription has been stable, usually for at least twelve months, so dig out old prescriptions or ask your optician for a printout going back a year or two. Bring your current glasses as well: you will be wearing them in the days before surgery once the lenses come out.
4. Say if your eyes feel dry, and expect them to be tested. Dry eye is assessed as standard before laser surgery, because it affects healing and can influence which technique your surgeon recommends, and because surgery can make existing dryness worse for a while. Mention it if your eyes sting, burn, water or feel gritty by the evening, or if you already use lubricating drops, and mention long screen days, air conditioning, smoking and antihistamines too. If your tear film needs treating first, your surgeon may want that done before surgery rather than after.
5. Tell your surgeon about your health and every medicine you take. Give a full list of medicines, supplements, allergies and conditions. Some matter more than you would expect: alpha-blockers such as tamsulosin can affect how the iris behaves during lens surgery, and your surgeon needs to know about them even if you stopped taking them long ago. Diabetes, autoimmune conditions, pregnancy and breastfeeding all affect suitability or timing. Never stop a prescribed medicine on your own. Your surgeon will tell you whether to pause anything, and if a blood thinner or any other medicine was prescribed to you, only the clinician who prescribed it can tell you to stop.
6. Prepare for the day itself. Wear something comfortable, eat a light meal beforehand unless you are told otherwise, and leave eye make-up off. Skip perfume, aftershave and hairspray on the day, and leave jewellery at the hotel. Bring your glasses and a pair of sunglasses with you.
7. Plan your recovery and the flight home. You cannot drive yourself away from the clinic, so arrange for someone to take you back to your accommodation; if you are travelling alone, your Luna coordinator organises the transfer. Have sunglasses, your drops and a quiet, dim place to rest waiting for you. Do not book a tight return flight: your partner surgeon confirms at your post-operative check-up whether your eyes are healing normally and when it is safe to fly, and Luna arranges the journey home around the date your surgeon gives.

What to have ready for your eye surgery

Having a few essentials prepared makes your assessment, your treatment day and your recovery easier.

• Your current glasses, plus any prescription records from your optician going back a year or two.
• The details of your contact lenses (soft, rigid or gas-permeable, and how long you have worn them), so your surgeon can set the right pause window.
• A full list of your current medications, supplements, allergies and medical conditions.
• Dark sunglasses for leaving the clinic and for the flight home, as your eyes will be light-sensitive.
• Your travel documents and Luna Clinic coordination details.

Contact lenses reshape the cornea, which is why the pause has to come before the assessment and not just before the surgery: any measurement taken while you are still wearing them is unreliable. Soft lenses usually come out a week or two beforehand and rigid or gas-permeable lenses considerably longer, but the window is set by your surgeon for your eyes, and you stay in glasses until after your procedure. Tell your surgeon about every medicine you take, including alpha-blockers such as tamsulosin and any blood thinner, and never stop a prescribed medicine on your own; your surgeon will tell you whether anything needs pausing.

What to expect on and just after the day

On the day of your procedure and in the first hours afterwards, keep the following in mind:

• Arrive with a clean face and no eye make-up. Mascara, eyeliner and lash extensions are left off for at least 24 hours beforehand because they shed particles into the tear film, and perfume, aftershave and hairspray are best skipped on the day.
• Only anaesthetic drops are used. You stay awake, you feel pressure rather than pain, and you see light and movement rather than instruments. For cataract and lens surgery your pupils are dilated as well, which leaves you very light-sensitive for several hours.
• You will not be able to drive afterwards. Arrange for someone to take you back to your accommodation, or let your Luna coordinator arrange the transfer if you are travelling alone.
• Expect a few hours of grittiness, watering and light sensitivity once the numbing wears off. Most patients describe an eyelash-in-the-eye feeling rather than pain. Sunglasses make the journey back much easier, and resting with your eyes closed beats reading or screens.
• Your drop schedule usually starts the same day, and the protective shield goes on before you sleep, from the very first night.

Recovery and aftercare

Eye surgery recovery is short but strict: the eye does most of its healing in the first days, and much of what can go wrong in that window is avoidable. Follow these aftercare steps alongside the schedule your surgeon gives you:

• Use every drop exactly as prescribed. Antibiotic, anti-inflammatory and lubricating drops each do a different job and taper on different schedules, so set phone alarms, and leave a couple of minutes between different drops so one does not wash the next one out.
• Do not rub, press or touch your eyes, however itchy or gritty they feel. Rubbing is the most avoidable cause of early problems, particularly in the first days after a LASIK flap.
• Wear the protective shield at night for as long as your surgeon tells you, so you cannot rub your eyes in your sleep.
• Keep water, soap and shampoo out of your eyes. Shower with your back to the water and pat your face dry rather than wiping it.
• No swimming pools, sea, hot tubs, saunas, steam rooms or hammams until your surgeon clears you, which usually takes several weeks.
• Leave eye make-up off until your surgeon says otherwise, commonly two to four weeks, and start again with fresh mascara and eyeliner rather than the old ones.
• Avoid dusty and smoky places, gardening, heavy lifting and straining, and contact sports, for as long as your surgeon advises.
• Screens and reading are fine as comfort allows, but blink deliberately: people blink far less at a screen, which makes early dryness feel much worse. Lubricating drops help.
• Wear sunglasses outdoors while your eyes are light-sensitive and the surface is still healing.
• Do not put a contact lens back into a treated eye unless your surgeon specifically tells you to.
• Increasing pain, worsening vision, a red or sticky eye, or a sudden shower of flashes and floaters are not part of a normal recovery. Contact your surgeon the same day rather than waiting for your next appointment; your Luna coordinator can reach them for you.

Vision settles at its own pace. Most laser patients see well within a day or two and keep sharpening over the following weeks, surface treatments such as PRK take longer, and premium lenses can need a few months while your brain adapts to the new optics. Your surgeon confirms when your eyes are healing normally, when it is safe to fly, and when your result can be considered final, so keep every follow-up, including the remote check-ins once you are home.