Cataract Surgery Month 1: What to Expect

One month is the standard checkpoint. StatPearls lists a one month visit in the routine follow-up schedule alongside day 1, week 1, and month 3. The American Academy of Ophthalmology puts full healing at about 4 to 6 weeks, and the National Eye Institute says most people are completely healed 8 weeks after surgery, so a month in you are typically most of the way there rather than finished.

Most people have their final or near final glasses prescription by now if they want glasses. StatPearls reports that up to 95 percent of patients achieve a best-corrected visual acuity of 20/40 after surgery. If your vision is still noticeably below what you expected, that is a conversation to have at this visit rather than something to wait out.

Some effects legitimately outlast the month. The American Academy of Ophthalmology says light sensitivity may mean wearing sunglasses for a few months, that dry eye nerves generally heal in about three months, and that glare and halos resolve on their own within a few months for many people. A droopy eyelid, if it happened, usually goes away on its own within six months.