Cataract Surgery Weeks 3 to 4: What to Expect

This is prescription time. The American Academy of Ophthalmology says vision stabilizes in 2 to 3 weeks, when your ophthalmologist will test for a new prescription. An AAO advice column says a new prescription is usually done at about four weeks, and that it can be accelerated to just several days if you accept that it may need adjusting later. Either way the measurement is more reliable now than it was in week one.

If you are having both eyes done, the second surgery is often scheduled around this stage. Until then the mismatch between an operated eye and an unoperated one can make depth perception and reading feel strange. The AAO notes this gap between eyes is a real practical problem for people who are significantly near or far sighted.

Dryness is often the main lingering complaint. The American Academy of Ophthalmology says almost all patients experience some level of dryness after surgery because of nerve disruption, and that those nerves generally heal in about three months. Preservative free artificial tears are what the AAO mentions for mild cases. If artificial tears are not helping, the AAO says to contact your ophthalmologist.