I had LASIK ten days ago and I've had a major headache ever since. First I thought it was just my eyes straining to get used to the new vision, but then I realized I even have the headache in the middle of the night, or when I first wake up in the morning before I've even looked at anything. Anyone else experience this? Any ideas? Thanks.

My bet is that the headache is similar to a sinus headache, with pain behind the eyes and behind the top of the nose.

There can be several causes for this symptom, but obvious ones are dry eyes or a reaction to the eye drop medications required after surgery. Remember that the eye lubrication system is tied to the sinuses. See http://www.complicatedeyes.org/dry_eye_treatment.htm

This is something that needs to be evaluated by your surgeon.

Glenn Hagele
http://www.USAEyes.org

I am not a doctor.

Yes, I've had a more or less constant headache ever since LASIK 5 weeks ago. Sometimes it seems to go away for a little while but it always returns. Mostly it's centered just above/behind my left (dominant) eye, but sometimes the pain migrates to my right eye. It seems to follow my sinuses.

I went to my regular doctor about a week ago. She diagnosed me as having an ear/sinus infection (there was a lot of fluid in my left ear) and I've been taking an antibiotic and decongestant for the past week. I have eye dryness, and the decongestant might be worsening it, but I really wanted to get rid of the headache. I'm just about done with both meds, and my ear feels better but the headache's still there.

I thought that maybe the lubricant drops I've been using were causing it. From the start I was using Systane, which is pretty viscous. Maybe it was clogging my tear ducts and irritating them? I switched to MoistureEyes, which has basically the same lubricants but is less viscous, but no effect. I've also tried TheraTears, but found its excessive goopiness more irritating than helpful, and GenTeal, which is similar in viscosity to MoistureEyes but uses a different lubricant. Doesn't seem to make any difference.

Are you still having headaches? Has anything helped?

Your headache sounds a lot like mine. Sometimes around my dominant eye, sometimes spreading to other areas. I went to my regular doctor and he seemed to think it sounded like a vascular headache (related to migraines, although I've never had migraines) and gave me a prescription to treat it as such. The medication has taken the edge off the headache and sometimes it even disappears completely. This is fine for the time being, but it seems to me like we're just treating the symptoms and not the underlying cause. The doctor looked at my sinuses and didn't think it seemed like a sinus headache, but I think it could be, especially based on what you're saying about the eye drops. My eyes have been very dry since the surgery, and I have been using mostly Systane, along with some Refresh Plus, GenTeal, and TheraTears Gel.