Do’s and Don’ts After Cataract Surgery: The Complete Checklist

• Rest on the day of surgery. Take it easy and arrange for someone to take you home.
• Get back to normal the next day. The procedure is so advanced and safe now that you can go back to your normal activities, such as yoga, showering, and the gym, the day after surgery.
• Use your eye drops. Apply them exactly as Professor Paul Ursell's team advises, with clean hands and a short gap between different drops.
• Wear sunglasses outdoors. Bright light can feel more uncomfortable than usual in the first few days, and sunglasses also keep out dust and wind.
• Attend every follow-up appointment. These checks, covered in more detail in our guide to what happens at a follow-up appointment, let your surgeon confirm your eye is healing as expected.

Downtime after surgery is low, so the list of restrictions is short. The one that matters most is driving.

Your vision needs to meet the legal standard of reading a car number plate from 20 metres. Professor Ursell's team will confirm when that is, usually once your vision has settled in the days after surgery.

For a lot of patients, getting back behind the wheel is one of the biggest reasons for having the surgery in the first place.

Please note: This is general guidance. Your post-op check will confirm what applies to you.

If you've got a trip booked in soon after surgery, it's worth reading how soon you can travel after private cataract surgery before you fly.

Every patient heals at their own pace, but most people follow a similar pattern.

Rest at home. You'll need someone to take you home, as you won't be able to drive.

Mild grittiness or light sensitivity is normal, and vision may be blurry to begin with. It usually clears within 24 to 48 hours. From the day after surgery, you can go back to your normal activities, including yoga, showering and the gym.

Continue your eye drops as prescribed. Follow-up appointments during this period confirm how the eye is settling.

Full healing is usually complete.

Most aftercare advice online is written for a standard cataract procedure that uses a needle for anaesthesia and an eye patch afterwards.

Professor Ursell pioneered a "No Needle, No Patch" technique. He uses numbing drops instead of a needle, there's no eye patch afterwards, the procedure doesn't hurt, and downtime is low.

There's no eye shield to wear at night either. The techniques Professor Ursell uses are advanced and robust, so your eye is safe to touch, rub and use straight away after the procedure.

That's why you won't see the long list of restrictions you'll find elsewhere, and why you can go back to normal activities, including yoga, showering and the gym, the day after surgery.

Your personal aftercare plan still comes first. Professor Ursell's team will confirm exactly what applies to you at your post-op check.

"My vision should be perfect straight away." Not quite. Vision usually clears within 24 to 48 hours, but it can keep settling for several weeks as your eye fully heals.

"Any discomfort means something's wrong." Mild grittiness, watering, or light sensitivity in the first few days is normal. It's a sharp increase in pain, or a sudden change in vision, that needs checking.

"I can't do anything for weeks." Most people are back to their normal activities, including yoga, showering and the gym, the day after surgery.

"I'll need to wear an eye patch or shield and avoid touching my eye." Not with Professor Ursell. There's no patch after surgery, no shield at night, and your eye is safe to touch, rub and use straight away after the procedure.

• Wash your hands before every application.
• Tilt your head back and look up, then gently pull down your lower eyelid to create a small pocket for the drop.
• Wait at least five minutes between different types of drops so one doesn't wash out the other.
• Use a new bottle if you're advised to, rather than sharing between eyes if only one has been treated.
• Set a reminder if you're on a multiple-times-a-day schedule. Missed or inconsistent drops can slow your recovery.

For a full week-by-week breakdown of when you can stop using them altogether, see how long you need to take eye drops after cataract surgery.

Most recoveries are straightforward, but contact your surgeon straight away if you notice:

• Increasing pain that isn't helped by your usual medication
• Sudden loss of vision
• A lot of new floaters or flashes of light
• Redness or discharge that's getting worse rather than better

These signs need to be checked promptly.

To make this easier to follow day-to-day, here's everything above in one simple visual:

If you're not sure whether cataract surgery is right for you yet, take our quick suitability self-test. It only takes a minute and helps you understand your next steps.