Best Eye Drop After LASIK Surgery

 

Too Long, Did Not Read: Allergan’s Refresh Mega-3 was the most popular choice amongst eye doctors that provide post-surgery and post-LASIK care.

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Many people realize that they need eye drops following LASIK Surgery. Sometimes, their eye doctor has given them explicit advice, and that is the best advice.

However, assuming that your eye doctor did not tell you which eye drops would be best after Lasik. Here is what we have heard from doctors that perform Lasik or that co-manage post-LASIK treatment.

Step Minus One: Before Surgery

Most eye doctors recommend that the patient ensure the best possible ocular surface for surgery. So, they start with basic eyelid hygiene. This means using a lid scrub. Peeq Pro makes a tea tree oil based one. Other lid scrubs include Tea Tree Eyelid and Facial Cleanser by Eye Eco or We Love Eyes’ Tea Tree Foaming Cleanser. Or, sometimes doctors recommend a tea tree oil lid wipe - like Optase’s Tea Tree Oil Wipes or Oasis’ Tea Tree Oil Cleansing Pads.

At that point, consider a common dry eye or ocular surface drop - such as Systane Complete PF, Optase’s Dry Eye Intense, or Allergan’s Refresh Optive Advanced.

Immediately Post-Surgery

Many eye doctors will recommend an antibiotic drop post-surgery to help with potential bacteria at the sight of the laser incisions. Common prescription drops include Moxifloxacin or Ofloxacin.

Another common practice is to recommend a steroidal drop to help alleviate inflammation at the incision site and across the surgical area. Common steroid drops include Prednisolone Acetate or Dexamethasone. 

In both cases, these are prescription drugs intended to help with specific complications or prevention of poor post-surgery outcomes. These are not OTC drops.

Lubricating Drop

In our conversations with doctors, there was a STRONG leaning to preservative free artificial tears post-surgery. These products include a wide range of good options, including Systane Complete PF, Allergan’s Refresh Optive Advance, TheraTears PF, and others that were mentioned by only one doctor.

A common side effect in both the short and long term of LASIK is dry eye. Essentially, the incisions create degradation to the ocular surface that often perpetuates underlying defects. This can lead to a variety of ocular surface problems - often leading to dry eye disease or other instances of ocular surface disease with overlapping symptoms.

To this end, many doctors recommend a post-surgical treatment protocol that includes eyelid hygiene and a consistent deployment of lubricating drops in instances of dry eye - whatever the trigger.

These doctors frequently point at oil based drops, such as Optase’s Advanced MGD Drop, Oasis Tears Plus PF, or Refresh Mega-3.

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So, after some deliberation and with the attempt to provide simplicity to a complex problem. First, check with your eye doctor. Follow their lead if they provide you a clear path.

Second, if they provide you conflicting or unclear advice, we would suggest the Refresh Mega-3 as your post-LASIK eye drop.