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Can I Workout After LASIK Surgery?

You’ve scheduled your LASIK laser eye surgery, and are eager to enjoy the results (and who wouldn’t be?). Many people are excited to jump back into life after the procedure is over, hoping to resume all their normal activities - just with better vision this time around. While you should absolutely be able to get back to all of your favorite pastimes after laser eye surgery, you’ll want to proceed with care for best results.

So if you’re asking, “Can I work out after LASIK?” - the answer is yes! But slow and gradual is the name of the game. Here are the best rules of thumb for getting back into physical activity after laser eye surgery.

Wait a Few Days for Any Exercise

We always suggest patients hold off on any form of working out for three to four days after their surgery is complete. Even if you try to ease into gentle exercises, you can still accidentally irritate or strain your eyes.

This can impede the recovery process, and end up backfiring on you by causing serious problems. Save yourself the potential extra costs of more doctor visits and further surgery by resting and lying low for the first few days.

Ease into Gentle Workouts

On the fourth or fifth day after your procedure, you can start small and slow. Go for a walk, use the elliptical machine, begin some low-intensity strength training with light weights. Avoid anything high-intensity (like boxing) or anything that will make you sweat a lot (like hot yoga).

Just in case you end up breaking a small sweat, wear a sweatband on your head to prevent sweat from dripping into your eyes and carry a small towel with you so you can keep your face dry. And if sweat still somehow gets into your eyes, avoid rubbing them (it will make it worse).

No Swimming for a Week

If your favorite exercise is swimming, you might be bummed to learn you need to avoid it for a full seven days after getting LASIK. Contaminants and chlorine in the water can irritate your eyes and hinder the recovery process (and even the best goggles can’t fully prevent this from happening). Do your eyes a favor, and wait to get in the pool, lake or ocean until you’ve given them a full week off to heal.

Protective Eyewear for a Month

Once that first week is behind you, you’re pretty much cleared to go full steam ahead with your normal exercise routine - with two caveats. First, this only applies if your eye doctor has said your eyes are healing well in your initial follow-up appointment And second, we recommend wearing sports goggles or other forms of protective eyewear for the first month after laser eye surgery. It might sound like a long time, but when it comes to your eyes, you’d way rather be safe than sorry.

When you’ve chosen to make the investment in your eyesight by getting LASIK laser eye surgery, it will change your approach to working out for a short period of time. But as long as you go slowly and follow the steps we recommend in this post, you’ll be back to your regular regimen within a month’s time - and have crystal clear vision, to boot. Contact us if you’d like to learn more or schedule a LASIK evaluation.