I’m sure everyone’s experience is somewhat different but here is what I have gone thru so far. The actual procedure is 100% painless and takes the doctor about 10 minutes. It takes much longer to get you ready while the nurse puts many drops in the eye. They used an extra strong drop to dilate the eye and it takes a couple days for the eye to get back to normal. My doctor provided sunglasses for when I had to go outside or in bright light. An IV is put in your arm so the anesthesiologist can do his thing. They do not put you out completely. Just get you relaxed for the procedure.
2 or 3 days before the procedure you start using eye drops. I had 3 different kinds. One of them I use once a day. Another twice a day. And the third 3 times a day. This continues for a couple weeks after the procedure. Meanwhile if you have to use drops for glaucoma, don’t forget them. In my case that’s 3 times a day for one of them and once a day for the other. Yeah, that’s a lot of drops to remember. They did give me a check off list for the cataract drops.
About 4 weeks after the first eye is done you can get (I hope) a new prescription for glasses. I have another week to go as of right now. As far as my vision goes it is reversed from the way it used to be. I can see distances fairly well and have do problems driving but have problems reading. They recommend reading glasses which help a little. I had the option as to which lens was put in. The standard which insurance covers or 3 other options which varied in price up to $3,000 (each eye). I opted for the standard mainly because I have been wearing glasses for about 65 years and longevity does not run in my family. And besides that I couldn’t afford it. If you can’t go without good vision for about a month you may want to consider the options. But on the other hand when my wife had her eyes fixed she didn’t have as many problems as I am having.
Now my decision is to whether have my new glasses made at the doctor’s office which takes 7-10 days or go to one of those make-em while you wait places. I have used both in the past and the doctor’s office seems to have much better quality than the others. Maybe that’s why the 1 hour places are a lot cheaper.
This is what I am going thru and your experiences may be completely different.