Why do they cover your eyes with Vaseline before surgery?

I would assume it keeps em from drying out, but ive never heard of such a thing.

I had surgery on my feet and they didn’t put anything on my eyes. Maybe it depends on what type of surgery one is having, but I never heard of it. I know for people who do lasik the put some to keep the eye area moist.

If You see doctor’s face,You’ll know who to kill,if something goes wrong… :)

My husband is a surgical technician and he said he has never seen vaseline put on eyes when prepping for surgery but when awaking from anesthesia it is common to have blurred vision as if you had Vaseline in your eyes or some other clear coating were in your eye, but they do put a clear coating of lubricant over the eyelashes before taping the eyes shut before surgery so that when they remove the tape after the procedure is over the eyelashes dont rip out with the tape when it is removed. Some hospitals may use Vaseline for this purpose.

Interesting hurleygrlblink.

After about ten minutes on Google I could only come up with it referring to lasik eye surgery.

my wife is having lasik in may. i will enquire about the vaseline and get back to you guys.

I can tell you what we do in veterinary medicine: anesthetized patients do not blink, so a lubricant is placed in the eyes to prevent drying of the corneas (which will cause ulceration).

I suspect hurleygrlblink is right on the money.

I had surgery in January and nothing was put in my eyes. I think hurleygrlblink’s answer makes the most sense.

They do put a creme or viscous fluid on the eyes on a patient in a coma or one on long term ventilator (for assisted breathing) who is unconscious to prevent the eyes from drying out.