The day of surgery
You will not be able to drive yourself home, and you should arrange for someone to be with you for the rest of the day. Your vision in the operated eye will be blurry for a few hours from the drops used to widen the pupil, and the eye may feel gritty, scratchy or mildly sore once the anesthetic wears off. Paracetamol or ibuprofen is usually enough.
You may have a dressing or a clear plastic shield over the eye. Your team will tell you when to take it off, usually the next morning. Take care on stairs while one eye is covered and the other is doing all the work; depth perception is not what it was.
The drops
You will be given eye drops, usually an antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory, to use for around four weeks. They matter as much as the surgery. Missed drops are how the rare complications happen.
Wash your hands before and after. Tilt your head back, look up, pull the lower lid down gently to make a pocket, and let the drop fall in without the bottle touching the eye. Close the eye for a moment rather than blinking hard. If you are using more than one type, leave a few minutes between them.
If your hands shake, or you cannot tell whether the drop went in, an eye drop guide is a small plastic frame that holds the bottle over the eye at the right distance and keeps the lid open. It turns a fiddly task into a reliable one, and it is worth having before the first morning rather than after a week of guessing.
The shield at night
For the first week or so you will be asked to wear a plastic shield over the eye when you sleep, taped to the skin around it. It stops you rubbing the eye or pressing it into the pillow while you are asleep, which is when the healing cut is most at risk. Sleep on your back or on the side away from the operated eye if you can.
Keep the shield clean, and keep a spare and fresh tape by the bed. The clinic’s shield is fine; it is the tape that runs out.
Washing, hair and water
Do not get water in the eye for the first week. Shower with your head tilted back so the water runs away from your face, keep your eyes closed, and pat the face dry rather than rubbing. Washing your hair is easiest with someone else doing it over a basin, or with your head tipped back at the sink. A clear shower visor, the kind sold for children, keeps water off the eyes if you would rather manage alone.
No swimming, even with goggles, until your surgeon says so, and no eye make-up for the first week or two. Do not rub the eye at any point. If it itches, a clean tissue pressed gently to the closed lid is as far as you go.
Light, screens and going out
Bright light and glare are uncomfortable for the first few days, and the new lens lets in more light than the cloudy one did. Sunglasses outdoors, and wraparound ones that fit over your normal glasses are the practical choice, both for the glare and because they keep wind and grit off the eye. Your team may also ask you to wear the shield or glasses outside in windy weather.
Reading, television and screens are fine as soon as you feel like it. They do not harm the eye. Your vision will be variable for a few days and you may find your old glasses no longer suit the operated eye, which is expected: the prescription usually needs redoing once the eye has settled, at around four to six weeks.
Bending, lifting and exercise
Avoid heavy lifting, strenuous exercise and sport for the first couple of weeks, and anything that involves straining. Bending to pick things up is fine in moderation; bending your head below your waist for long periods is best avoided in the first days. Walking is good from day one. Take care on uneven ground while your depth perception adjusts, and clear anything from the floor that could trip you, particularly if the other eye still has a cataract.
Driving
Do not drive until your vision is back to the legal standard in the operated eye and you feel confident, which for most people is a few days to a week, and only once your team has said so. If you are having the second eye done, you may be in a strange in-between where one eye is corrected and the other is not; ask your optometrist about a temporary lens in the meantime. Our driving after surgery guide covers the rules that apply regardless of the operation.
What to have at home
Four things earn their place. An eye drop guide, for the reasons above. A spare shield and micropore tape, because the clinic gives you one and the tape runs out first. Wraparound sunglasses that fit over your glasses, for glare, wind and grit. And a clear visor if you want to wash your own hair in the first week. Everything else you already own.
Warning signs to take seriously
Most people have a smooth recovery, but some symptoms need a same-day call to the clinic or, out of hours, urgent care:
Increasing pain rather than the mild soreness that settles over a few days.
Vision getting worse after it had started to improve, or a sudden loss of vision.
A red, angry eye with discharge or sticky lids.
Flashes of light, a sudden shower of new floaters, or a dark curtain or shadow across part of your vision. These can be signs of a detached retina and need urgent assessment.
Feeling increasingly sensitive to light when it had been improving.
See an optician rather than the emergency department if, weeks or months later, the vision slowly turns cloudy again. That is often a treatable thickening behind the new lens, not a return of the cataract.
Two weeks on
By two weeks most people have finished with the shield, are showering normally, and are seeing better than they have for years. The drops carry on for the full course. Glasses get re-tested at about a month or six weeks, and if you are having the other eye done, it is usually scheduled a few weeks after the first. Keep every follow-up appointment even when the eye feels fine; the check is what confirms it is.