I just had myopia surgery and my vision is blurry up close. Is this normal?

After myopia surgery, some patients reported that their vision was blurred when reading or looking at their phone, but they had no problem seeing far away. Is this symptom of blurred vision normal after surgery? Why does this happen? Can it get better? How long will it last?

In the early period after myopia surgery, blurry vision, difficulty in near vision, and easy fatigue are normal and temporary phenomena, which may be mainly related to the following factors:

1. Corneal edema

Cutting the cornea during laser myopia surgery may cause an inflammatory reaction in the cornea and produce some edema, which in turn affects vision and causes blurred vision for patients.

2. Decreased eye accommodation ability

The degree of the frame glasses we usually wear is often 50-75 degrees lower than the actual degree, which is what we call "undercorrection". When looking at close objects, the eyes use less adjustment than the non-myopic eyes (emmetropia). Over time, the eye's adjustment power will decrease.

After myopia surgery, both eyes are corrected to emmetropia. At this time, the accommodative power required for close vision increases. However, the original accommodative power of the eyes cannot meet the current demand, resulting in blurred close vision.

3. Observe the changes at close range

Because of myopia or even high myopia before the surgery, when patients are undercorrected or do not wear glasses, they will involuntarily shorten the viewing distance when they want to see things clearly at close range. Normally, the distance for seeing things close is about 33 to 40 cm. After the myopia surgery, we will correct the myopia to emmetropia. If we still put the object in the position where we used to see it clearly, we will not be able to see it clearly.

4. Visual fatigue

There are many reasons for visual fatigue: long-term close work, poor accommodation function, staying up late, poor eye environment, etc. Symptoms include: ① intermittent blurry vision of close objects, ② blurry or double images when reading at close range, ③ eye swelling, dizziness, headache, tearing or foreign body sensation after close work, etc.

Zhao Bo, director of Tianjin University Aier Eye Hospital, said that there are many factors that cause blurred vision in the early stage after refractive surgery, but this discomfort is only temporary and will be relieved in about a month for most people. However, the speed of vision improvement after surgery varies from person to person. If it is slow, don't worry too much. Check in time. The doctor will adjust the medication according to the eye condition and give targeted postoperative care suggestions.