Dry eyes and LASIK: what to sort out before you book a date

Why dry eye sits near the top of the screening list

The FDA's list of risk factors a doctor should screen for before LASIK includes dry eye, with a short and pointed explanation: LASIK tends to make the condition worse (FDA, 2018). Its risk page goes further, describing severe dry eye after surgery that may be permanent and may need intensive drops, plugs or other procedures (FDA, 2018).

Even patients without existing dryness should expect some. The American Academy of Ophthalmology describes dry eyes, blurry or changing vision, and glare or halos as normal for several weeks or even months after surgery, typically resolving or easing by about six months (AAO, 2023). For someone starting from a dry baseline, that temporary dryness lands on top of an existing problem.

That is why a good surgeon will want to know about your symptoms early, and why a good booking plan gives them room to act on what they find.

Do you have dry eye? Signs worth mentioning

You do not need a diagnosis to raise it. Tell the clinic if any of these sound familiar:

• Eyes that feel gritty, sandy or burning, especially later in the day.
• Contact lenses that become uncomfortable after a few hours.
• Watery eyes in wind or air conditioning, which some people are surprised to learn can go along with dryness.
• Blurred vision that clears when you blink.
• Red or crusty eyelid margins.
• Reaching for lubricating drops regularly.

The eyelid point is worth flagging separately. The FDA lists blepharitis, inflammation of the eyelids with crusting of the lashes, as a risk factor that may increase the risk of infection or inflammation of the cornea after LASIK (FDA, 2018). It often travels alongside dry eye, and it is usually something your home eye doctor can help you manage.

Raise it in the first message, not at the exam

The worst time to discover that dry eye affects your plan is in the consult room in Colombia, with flights booked and leave taken. Put it in your inquiry instead. A useful first message includes:

1. What symptoms you have, how often, and for how long.
2. Any diagnosis from an optometrist or ophthalmologist, and what they recommended.
3. What drops or treatments you currently use.
4. Whether your contact lenses have become harder to wear.
5. Any medications you take regularly.

The clinic may come back with questions, a request for a recent eye exam report, or a suggestion to see someone at home before booking. All of those are good signs. They mean the clinic is taking the issue seriously before it becomes your problem on the ground. Our guide to what to send with your inquiry covers the other documents worth attaching.

Get an eye exam at home first

If you have symptoms and have not had them looked at, book an appointment with your optometrist or ophthalmologist before you book anything in Colombia. Ask them to assess the surface of the eye and the eyelids, and to write down what they find. Two outcomes are possible, and both are useful:

Either way, you go into the booking with facts instead of guesses.

How dry eye can change the plan

On the procedure question: AAO's EyeWiki reports that dry eye symptoms are generally less frequent after SMILE than after LASIK, which it links to the smaller incision affecting fewer corneal nerves (AAO EyeWiki, 2026). That does not make SMILE a dry-eye cure, and it is not suitable for every prescription. It is simply one reason the surgeon may suggest it.

Booking travel when dry eye is in the picture

A patient with healthy eyes can book with a reasonable expectation that the plan will hold. A patient with dry eye should book on the assumption that it might move. In practical terms:

• Do not lock in non-refundable flights until the clinic has reviewed your records and is comfortable with a date.
• Choose accommodation with free cancellation on at least some nights.
• Ask about a deposit refund or transfer policy if surgery is postponed for a medical reason. Get the answer in writing.
• Consider a longer lead time. Treatment at home takes weeks, and the contact lens stop period comes on top of that.

Contact lenses and dryness

Many people first notice dry eye as contact lens discomfort. You will have to stop lenses before the pre-op exam anyway; the FDA gives two weeks for soft lenses and longer for toric, rigid and hard lenses (FDA, 2018). Use that period as an informal test. If your eyes feel much better without lenses, tell the clinic. If they still feel dry, tell them that too.

Medications and health conditions to mention

Dry eye rarely exists in isolation. Some of the things that make eyes drier also affect healing, and the clinic needs to see the whole picture. The FDA lists autoimmune conditions such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and certain medicines including retinoic acid and steroids as factors that may impair healing after LASIK (FDA, 2018). Several of these are also associated with dryness.

When you write to the clinic, list every regular medication, including over-the-counter products, supplements and anything applied to the skin near the eyes. Do not stop or change a prescribed medicine to improve your chances of being accepted; that is a decision for the doctor who prescribed it. The surgeon's job is to plan around your health, not the other way round.

Questions to ask the surgeon about dryness

Whether the topic comes up in an email exchange or at the consult, these questions help you understand the plan for your eyes specifically:

• "What did my tear film and eyelid assessment show?"
• "Would you treat anything before surgery, and for how long?"
• "Does my dryness change which procedure you would recommend?"
• "What will my post-op dry-eye routine be, and how long should I expect to follow it?"
• "What symptoms after surgery should make me contact you rather than wait?"

Write down the answers. A dry-eye plan you can show your home eye doctor is worth far more than a reassuring sentence you half remember.

The trip itself: being kind to dry eyes

Air travel is drying. Long flights, cabin air and staring at a screen all leave eyes feeling worse. For a patient with existing dryness, the trip to Colombia is worth managing:

• Arrive a day before the exam if possible, so long-haul dryness has time to settle before measurements.
• Ask the clinic whether you should use lubricating drops on the flight and on exam morning, and which ones.
• Drink water, limit alcohol, and rest your eyes rather than watching films back to back.
• Avoid sitting directly under air vents, on the plane and in the hotel.

After surgery, follow the drop schedule exactly. Post-op dryness is expected even in patients who started with healthy eyes, and your surgeon's regimen is designed with your baseline in mind.

Plan the long tail at home

Because dryness can last for months after surgery, the home follow-up matters more for you than for the average patient. Before you travel, make sure your home eye doctor knows you have a history of dryness, and ask the Colombian clinic for a written dry-eye plan to take back with you: which drops, how often, for how long, and when to seek help. Pack enough to get you home and through the first weeks, and know where you will buy more. If the clinic prescribes something that is sold under a different brand name at home, ask them to write down the active ingredient so your local pharmacist can find an equivalent. Our article on follow-up care at home covers the rest of that handover.