Is a watery eye normal after a vitrectomy?

What's normal

Watering typically travels with the scratchy feeling. AAO notes that a scratchy, sandy, or gritty sensation as if something is inside the eye is common after vitrectomy, and a surface that feels irritated produces reflex tears. ASRS describes the same mild foreign body sensation.

Stitches at the incision sites, surface dryness from drops and from the eye being open during surgery, and general inflammation all add to it. StatPearls' account of the early period after retinal surgery includes lid and conjunctival swelling with associated inflammation.

Clear, watery tearing that gradually settles over the first weeks is the usual pattern.

Usually most noticeable in the first 1 to 2 weeks, easing as stitches dissolve and inflammation settles.

When it stops being normal

Watch the character of the fluid. Thick yellow or green discharge, crusting that seals the lids, worsening redness, increasing pain, or falling vision can point to infection, which ASRS lists among the possible complications of vitrectomy. Call the same day. StatPearls also notes that pain, redness, and discharge together are the presentation of an infected implant after buckle surgery, so that combination always deserves a call.