Sports After LASIK: Recovery Time For The Everyday Athlete

Many people are under the misconception that recovery time for LASIK is long and that exercising and playing sports after LASIK is not possible right away. However, this is a myth. Most people can work the next day and enjoy certain levels of exercise during their LASIK recovery time.

Running After LASIK

Whether you are a casual jogger or marathon veteran, the everyday runner can quickly resume their routine during the LASIK recovery time. After just two days, runners can resume running and avoid having to miss half a week of training or body conditioning.

After the LASIK recovery time, runners can enjoy eliminating the:

• Need to clean and find contacts or glasses before going to the gym or running outside
• Burning, stinging and itching symptoms associated with sweat mixing with contacts
  
• The obstacle of glasses when trying to exercise or run
• Need to stop and clean glasses due to sweat and condensation
• Risks of breaking or losing glasses during an exercise or run

Swimming After LASIK

For swimmers, it’s important to take a break from swimming for two weeks during the LASIK recovery time. This is crucial for your eye health since the last thing you want is an infection or complication from submerging your head in water while your reshaped corneal tissue is healing. Keeping your eyes free of the pool, ocean, lake, river, or pond water for 14 days helps reduce the chances of infection.

Contact Sports After LASIK

Contact sport athletes are a unique group of individuals who can benefit greatly from LASIK surgery. With the quick recovery time of LASIK, they can easily get back to performing at their best without the hindrance of glasses or contacts. However, for these athletes, a little additional care is needed when playing sports after LASIK. Opting for the all-laser, blade-free LASIK is particularly important. This type of LASIK surgery provides better corneal flap adherence compared to one made with a blade, allowing a shorter recovery time. In fact, blade LASIK is not allowed in the military for this exact reason.

With a LASIK recovery time of as little as two days, people who like to play contact sports such as racquetball, tennis, volleyball, soccer, basketball, football and baseball can pick up their rackets, knee pads and cleats relatively quickly, as long as reliable protective eyewear is worn. These protective goggles should be worn for an entire month when playing sports after LASIK to protect eyes from sudden jabs, bumps, and acute trauma. With such durable protective eyewear, LASIK eye surgery patients can enjoy playing their favorite sports within a half week after their procedure, never missing any training or playing time.

It is recommended that certain sports be avoided completely for the first month of the LASIK recovery time if sudden, blunt person-to-person contact is likely or guaranteed since it greatly increases the chances for corneal displacement. Activities such as karate, Krav Maga, Kung Fu, and other martial arts pose higher injury risks due to their offensive and defensive processes.

After the LASIK recovery time, contact sport athletes can enjoy eliminating the:

• Chances for broken glasses
• Need to purchase expensive prescription sports goggles
• Likelihood for contacts to fall out or shift out of place during games or matches
• Risk of eye injuries from broken glasses
• Irritation involved when sweat or sunscreen enters the eye and reacts with contacts

If you are an everyday athlete that has thought about LASIK but feared your recovery would take too long or the procedure would not allow you to exercise or play sports after LASIK for several weeks, we invite you to schedule a complimentary consultation with one of our experienced LASIK surgeons.