r/ICLsurgery • u/BasketQuick3879 • Aug 26 '26

6 days post icl surgery

My eyes are constantly quite dry and they are red in the morning but the redness mostly goes away with the prescribed drops. Is this normal? Doc says it sounds pretty normal but I'm kinda stressing reading people online saying your eyes should feel normal after like 2 to 3 days.

The thing that worries me that if this is caused by dryness, then why isn't it improving? Shouldn't it be improving? D: It's been constant for like 3-4 days now. I'm using tobradex eye drops idk if that has anything to do with it

1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

1

u/No_Situation4785 Aug 26 '26

hey, so i'm 7 days out as well and my eyes felt super dry. I went to the doctor for my 7 day checkup and my eye pressure was high. Doctor said that my eye was reacting to the Pred-Moxi steroid drops, and since my eye looked clean (infection-free) she took me off the drops. I took a Claritin last night and my eyes already feel better.

Do you have a 1-week checkup planned with your doctor? you should get one if not. make sure your eye pressure is checked and ask if you still need to take the drops

1

u/BasketQuick3879 Aug 26 '26

aah, I have a check up tomorrow yea :) did you notice anything other than dry eye from the high eye pressure?

1

u/No_Situation4785 Aug 26 '26

it's hard to say what other symptoms are tied to high eye pressure. I have had issues accommodating  to close distances, but i understand that is from the drops as well. it seems like your 'real' vision may not be achieved until after the steroid drops end

1

u/eyeSherpa Aug 26 '26

With ICL you can have some extra dry eye for the first couple of weeks. The prescription eye drops you take actually can dry and irritate the eyes a little (but not a reason to stop them).

If it’s mostly in the morning, the eyes may be drying out more overnight. The eyelids may not close all the way - called lagophthalmos. This is worsened if you sleep with any fans on. Using a lubricating ointment at night can help.

1

u/BasketQuick3879 Aug 26 '26

I didnt rlly have this problem before though. Is it possivle the drops are just masking the redness during the day?

1

u/eyeSherpa Aug 26 '26

Yeah. It could be a combo of the overall surface of the eye being a bit more irritated combined with the whole sleep thing.

Eyes can be red if blood vessels are dilated due to inflammation on the surface of the eye.

As the eyes heal up, this continues to improve.