One of the most common questions asked about Lasik surgery is whether or not a person can wear contacts after having the surgery performed. While most people are looking for a simple straightforward answer to that question, the answer may not be as simple for some people as for others.
The truth is that while most people may be able to wear contacts after Lasik surgery, others may not. There are a lot of things that may go into determining whether or not contacts can be worn by people who have had this type of corrective eye surgery.
Why Would Anyone Want To Wear Contacts After Corrective Eye Surgery
Many people question why someone would even consider wearing contact lenses after having Lasik corrective eye surgery.
First, while lasik surgery may vastly improve your eyesight it may not fix every vision problem or may not be able to correct your vision as much as you may have hoped and wearing corrective lenses of some type may help reduce strain or help to improve your vision more.
In other cases someone may want to wear contacts that change the color of their eyes either to enhance their natural color or to change the color either on a regular basis or for a special occasion such as Halloween.
In both cases a person would want to be sure that they can wear contacts without causing harm to their eyes. There may be a couple of reasons why wearing contacts after surgery may prove difficult if not impossible.
Could You Wear Contacts Before Your Surgery?
One of the considerations of whether or not you can wear contacts after Lasik surgery is whether or not you could comfortably wear the contacts before the surgery was done. If wearing contacts prior to surgery was uncomfortable then chances are that having this surgery will not resolve that issue for you and you will still find wearing contacts uncomfortable after the surgery has been performed and your eyes have healed.
For many people contacts simply aren’t comfortable and never will be so if you are hoping that Lasik surgery will change that then it simply will not happen.
In rare cases, people who could wear contacts before surgery do find that wearing contacts after surgery may be extremely uncomfortable. In these cases it is probably better not to wear contacts then to suffer the discomfort. However, in other cases people who have had Lasik surgery find that gas preamble contacts may be more comfortable than either soft contacts or glasses.
How Much Has The Shape Of Your Cornea Changed?
Another factor that must be considered is exactly how much the surgery changed the shape of your cornea. If the cornea shape has changed significantly then contacts may no longer fit right. While this does not happen often it does happen and for those people contacts are simply not an option.
How Do I Find Out If I Can Still Wear Contacts After Lasik Eye Surgery?
The best way to discover if you can wear contacts after you have had Lasik eye surgery is to give your eyes plenty of opportunity to heal. It is advised that giving your eyes 6 months to heal after surgery is best before deciding to put anything into your eye.
Once you have given your eye or eyes plenty of opportunity to heal then visit your Optometrist discuss your desire to wear contacts with him and allow him to exam and remeasure your eyes to see if contacts are a viable option.
Your Optometrist is in the best position to judge the condition of your eyes and the shape of your corneas and decide if contacts will or will not work. Listen to his advice and discuss your options.
When wearing your new contacts following Lasik surgery try starting out wearing them for a limited amount of time at first to ensure that they are comfortable. Then slowly increase the amount of time you wear them.
In most cases wearing contacts after Lasik surgery should not pose much of a problem. However, it is necessary to exercise common sense giving your eyes time to heal, being remeasured for new contacts, and to make sure that they fit correctly and are comfortable. After all, keeping your vision the best it can possibly be is the most important thing.