How to read after Lasik surgery with text to speech

If you've recently had LASIK eye surgery, your eyes will need time to recover. Activities such as reading will be more challenging. In this article, you’ll find an alternative to reading that ensures you can still enjoy written content.

If you’re dealing with nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia) or astigmatism, you might undergo LASIK eye surgery from eye surgeons at an eye center. Although the procedure is effective, it involves a recovery period, the length of which depends on your condition.

During this time, activities such as reading will be more challenging. In this article, you’ll find an alternative to reading that ensures you can still enjoy written content.

What is Lasik eye surgery?

LASIK surgery is a laser-assisted method of correcting vision problems. Specifically, LASIK reshapes your cornea so that it can adequately bend light. The cornea is located at the front of your eye, opposite the retina at the back.

Alongside PRK (photorefractive keratectomy) and wavefront-guided surgery, it’s a standard method of resolving nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism. These eye diseases impact how your cornea bends light, causing vision loss to some extent. As ophthalmology has improved, doctors have identified new ways to provide improved vision, including through surgery for better vision.

Contrary to popular belief, LASIK isn’t a suitable method for glaucoma or cataract surgery. It only fixes corneal issues. Your doctor can confirm whether your vision issues stem from refractive errors before you decide to pursue this type of procedure.

There are many benefits of refractive eye surgery over more traditional methods. These include:

• No contact lens complications - Contact lenses carry a risk of serious infections. The LASIK procedure can help you avoid them.
• Permanent improvements - Laser vision correction offers long-term benefits, limiting eye doctor visits to recommended annual eye exams.
• Costs savings - Even though LASIK involves an upfront investment of over $1,000, it can save you the money you’d spend on reading glasses, screen readers or contact lenses in the long run.
• LASIK patients usually don’t expose themselves to severe complications or side effects. Still, it can take time for your vision to get back to normal. Let’s have a closer look at the recovery process.

Taking care of your eyes after laser eye surgery – Do’s and don’ts

After LASIK, your vision and eye health should improve within a few weeks, though recovery time can be up to three months, especially if you don’t ensure proper eye care. Here are some tips for shortening the process and recovering properly:

• Follow your LASIK surgeon’s instructions - Your ophthalmologist should give you detailed post-surgery instructions. Follow them without deviations.
• Use eye drops - Dry eyes are common after LASIK because of reduced nerve sensation. Use your optometrist’s recommended eye drops to compensate for lost moisture.
• Rest your eyes - Eye strain can prolong LASIK recovery and lead to serious complications. For the first 24-48 hours, stay away from screens and printed materials, especially those involving near vision.
• Use UV-protective sunglasses - Your eyes will be sensitive for weeks after LASIK, so don’t leave your home without sunglasses, even if it’s a bit cloudy outside.

Reading after Lasik - How text to speech helps

LASIK recovery poses some accessibility issues. Most notably, it’s best if you don’t expose yourself to bright screens or printed text. Doing so can cause eye strain.

How can you take your mind off the recovery process? Thanks to technological advancements such as AI and text to speech, you don’t need to look at written content to consume it. All you need is a TTS platform to enjoy great content while your eyes recover.

Text to speech does what the name implies. It takes written text and speaks it to you through AI-powered voice generation.

There are many benefits to text to speech even if you don’t have any vision problems. You can use it for multitasking such as listening to content while performing various tasks.  

Finally, TTS unlocks many opportunities for those with learning disabilities such as dyslexia or ADHD. It’s a standard tool used in special education to ensure convenient and effective learning.

These are just some of the advantages of TTS. If you’re preparing for LASIK surgery and want to arm yourself with the tools that can make recovery smoother, it’s worth considering.

Speechify 

If you haven’t used a TTS tool before and aren’t sure which option is the best, you should consider Speechify. It’s a capable TTS platform that lets you generate natural-sounding audio from any digital or printed text.

Speechify offers over 30 human-like voices and over 20 languages. You can listen to a variety of content in a soothing voice that will help you go through LASIK recovery more smoothly.

The Speechify app is available on iOS, Android and Mac. You can also use Google Chrome and Safari extensions to replace your screen with a pair of earbuds. Whichever device you’re using, Speechify will ensure your eyes can rest.

If you want to test out Speechify’s many helpful features, you can try it for free.

FAQ

Can you read right after Lasik?

No, you shouldn’t try reading any digital or printed text. Screen exposure can damage your eyes, and printed text can strain your eyes.

What happens if you use your phone after Lasik?

Bright screens can prolong the recovery time and sometimes even damage your eyes. You shouldn’t use your phone for a day or two after surgery.

How many days after Lasik can I use my computer?

You can return to using a computer at least two days after surgery.

How long does it take to get your eyesight back after Lasik?

You should regain complete eyesight a few weeks after LASIK. In more complex cases, though, it could take between two and three months.