Is it normal for one eye to heal slower after LASIK?

What's normal

Each eye is a separate surgery on a separate cornea with a separate prescription, so they rarely clear at exactly the same rate. The FDA notes that a disadvantage of having both eyes treated on the same day is that vision in both eyes may be blurred after surgery until the initial healing process is over, rather than being able to rely on clear vision in at least one eye at all times. Uneven early clearing is part of that picture.

The FDA also says that if you have one eye done at a time, you and your doctor decide how long to wait before the second eye, partly so you can see how the first eye responds. Either way, vision fluctuates during the first few months and the FDA says it may take three to six months for vision to stabilize.

Two other explanations are common. One is dryness, which is not always symmetrical. StatPearls reports dry eye in roughly 85 to 98 percent of patients at one week and around 60 percent at one month. The other is a deliberate difference: with monovision, the FDA explains that one eye is corrected for distance and the other for near, so the goal for one eye is vision worse than 20/20 at distance, and many patients cannot get used to having one eye blurred at all times.

Uneven clearing is most noticeable in the first 1 to 2 weeks and usually evens out as both eyes stabilize over 3 to 6 months.

When it stops being normal

A gap between eyes that is widening, rather than closing, is the thing to report. The FDA says to contact your eye doctor immediately if you develop any new, unusual, or worsening symptoms at any point after surgery, because such symptoms could signal a problem that may lead to loss of vision if not treated early enough.

One eye that is painful, red, very light sensitive, or clearly worse than it was yesterday is not a pacing difference. StatPearls lists diffuse lamellar keratitis presenting one to two days after surgery, flap complications in about 0.1 to 4 percent of patients, and infectious keratitis in under 0.1 percent, and any of these can affect one eye only. If one eye is lagging simply because of leftover prescription, that is an enhancement discussion, and the FDA says wait until your measurements are consistent for two consecutive visits at least 3 months apart before re-operation.