What eye drops do you recommend following LASIK? Will Visine be fine? How long are they needed?

You will use a steroid drop, and antibiotic drop, and a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drop for about a week after your LASIK. After that it is best to use artificial tears for up to six months to avoid dry eyes. Please do not use Visine! It is toxic to the cornea. Visine brand artificial tears are fine.

most patients after LASIK or IntraLase, which are the older, cutting procedures, develop at least some degree of dry eyes, because when you cut the corneal flap, you cut the corneal nerves, which is the cause of dry eyes. i have some DES (dry eye syndrome) myself because I have had LASIK.

this is one of the reasons i switched to ASA (Advanced Surface Ablation), which are LASEK and epiLASEK, as these are noncutting, so do not cause dry eyes.

after LASIK, you're going to need to use artificial tears for the rest of your life. it's not a big deal, and i'm still glad I had LASIK, but i definitely need to use tears every day in the winter when it's dry, less often in the spring and fall, and not really in the summer.

you should NOT use drugstore brands, generics, or Visine. Visine and similar products contain vasoconstrictors to "get the red out" which is NOT what you need. it may even make your dryness worse.

what you need to use is a high-quality tear, by one of the large eye companies, like Allergan, Alcon, or Bausch & Lomb. these products are a bit more expensive, but worth it, as the contents are different. for example, some of the thicker products contain hyaluranic acid, which is a viscoelastic substance that we use in cataract surgery, derived from rooster combs (they are jelly-like)

in any case, immediately after surgery you should use a preservative free tear that's in an individual vial, as frequent use of a preserved product can cause allergic reactions.

 

anything in a bottle, by law, by FDA, MUST contain a preservative. so don't believe the bs marketing stuff you're going to see, where you see some product in a bottle that is marketed as "preservative free on contact." that's a bottle with preservatives in it, that get degraded by the corneal esterases in your cornea on contact. well, guess what--the drop already contacted your eye, so any sensitivity to that preservative will already be triggered

in summary, i think it's bad advice for anyone to say that it's ok if you take Visine after LASIK. you should use a high-quality, preservative free tear. the other doctor who suggested Restasis is correct, in that is sometimes useful to "restart" your natural tear function. after a few months, it should be back to normal, and you can stop your Restasis, decrease your tear frequency, and then go into a bottled product (but not Visine or a drugstore brand)

it also helps if you drink more water, decrease alcohol and caffeine consumption, and get a "cool mist" humidifier when you sleep, especially in the northeast in the winter, where it's very dry

hope this helps, and don't worry, you'll be fine!:)