So what is ICL eye surgery?
ICL stands for implantable collamer lens and is a form of refractive eye surgery to help reduce your dependance on things like glasses and contact lenses.
but what is the difference between ICL eye surgery vs lasik?
in this video we are going to go over who makes a good candidate for ICL eye surgery
and some of the pros and cons of ICL vs lasik.
because if you are thinking of getting either of these surgeries, you want to know your options
let's take a look.
hey what's up, this is Dr. Allen here from the Doctor Eye Health show
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most people these days have at least heard of the refractive eye surgery called LASIK
which stands for laser in-situ keratomileusis
which is a very fast healing eye surgery that helps you reduce your depends on things like glasses and contacts
but another form of refractive eye surgery which is very similar to lasik in terms of it's outcome is that of the ICL eye surgery
which again stands for implantable collamer lens but is sometimes referred to as the implantable contact lens
because the procedure itself is very similar to have a tiny piece of plastic, like a contact lens
implanted inside of the eye rather than the contact lens that's placed on the surface of the eye.
again the icl is a lens that is inserted inside of the eye
and is placed behind the iris, the colored part of the eye
but in front of the crystalline lens, which is inside the eye
it's a pretty narrow space and it is pretty amazing that they are able to do this procedure, to say the least.
now because the ICL is implanted inside the eye it does have some advantages over lasik
some benefits of ICL surgery vs lasik
include the fact that icl can correct higher amounts of myopia or nearsightedness than lasik can
most of the time lasik eye procedures can correct up to about -10 diopters of nearsightedness
but that highly depends on how much corneal thickness somebody has
where ICL surgery can correct up to about -15 diopters of of myopia
another advantage is that with lasik you are vaporizing tissue from the surface of the eye
and once that's done you can't get that tissue back
but with ICL eye surgery, because this lens is implanted inside the eye
if there is something wrong, you have some power changes or if for some reason they need to reverse it
they can, they can go in, they can remove that lens or even replace it with a different lens
so essentially a reversible procedure
but another big advantage of having ICL vs LASIK
and this is honestly probably why if I was going to get a refractive procedure I might go with the ICL vs LASIK
and that's because with lasik eye surgery the most common kind of side effect or complication after that procedure is dry eyes
I already have dry eyes, so if I was going to go get lasik, i would be just making things worse
but because the ICL procedure doesn't involve cutting the corneal nerves on the surface of the eye
there is really not as high of a risk of developing complications such as dry eye diseases
one last advantage ICL has is that people tend to have less higher order abborations
than what people tend to get with lasik
meaning they tend to see better in low light situations
and they have reduced issues with glare and halos around lights
such as, if you are driving at nighttime
people will likely have better vision in those low light situations after having ICL eye surgeries vs the lasik
so now that we know some of the advantages of ICL vs lasik
who makes a good candidate for ICL
Now i practice here in the united states and the US FDA has approved the Visian ICL
for people of age 21 to 45
correcting anywhere from a -3.0 Diopters of nearsightedness all the way up to -15
and again that is a pretty large amount of nearsightedness
and similar to lasik, you want a stable refractive history
meaning your glasses and contact lens prescription has not been changing more than a half of a diopter in any direction for the last year.
another big thing that makes someone a good candidate for this procedure is something that doctors like myself have to measure for
and that has to be the depth of your anterior chamber
it has to be at least 3mm or greater
you are implanting this lens inside the eye
and you want to make sure there is enough space for that implant to set
now for some good news, if you are someone who has astigmatism
they now have approval in the united states for the Visian Toric ICL
which means the now toric ICL implant can correct anywhere from 1 diopters of astigmatism, all the way up to 4 diopters of astigmatism
now of course before this new icl was available
surgeons would still be able to help people with astigmatism
because they would combine a standard visian ICL implant
with doing lasik for astigmatism on top of that
and i remember as a student, learning in our refractive surgery suite at our school,
how kind of cool that entire process was
in fact they would do the entire femto second flap creation
before going into the operating room to perform the ICL procedure
and then later on they would actually use the excimer laser
to create the lasik correction for that astigmatism
which does seem kind of backwords and I know this is a much higher level question
but in case there are any optometry students
or ophthalmology students and were wondering why they would do it in that order
I would love to hear your thoughts on that, drop it in the comment section below because when I was a student I thought that was a really cool thing
but for everyone else who wants to just get straight to the answer of why they did that, i will put it in a little secret text box in the description if you want to check that out.
but now that we know who the icl eye surgery is really for
now let's go over some contraindications or who is not a candidate for the ICL surgery
Again the icl surgery does correct for nearsightedness or myopia
and it can correct all the way up to -15
but if you are someone who is over negative 15 or under 3 diopters
it's probably not the best procedure for you
but if you do have a higher prescription, let's say a negative 20
you still could get the ICL procedure
but it's probably not going to get you to exactly zero, where you wont need glasses for distance,
but you will at least reduce your dependance on needing really thick glasses
as with most refractive surgeries if you are pregnant or nursing you are not a good candidate
because hormone changes can play a change in your refractive powers as well as your tear film
and all the other contraindications for this procedures are all things eye doctor like myself need to measure for
we have to make sure the front angle in the front part of the eye
is not too shallow
mainly is has to be at least grade 2 or higher on gonioscopy
and your doctor needs to make sure you have enough endothelial cells on your cornea
this is the back surface of your cornea on the inside of the eye
if you dont have enough cells there, any type of refractive procedure
may increase the risk of damage to those cells and unfortunately you can't regrow those cells back
but again all of those factors are things an eye doctor like myself has to measure for
during your assessment for this procedure
now there are always risks of complications for any surgery
but thankfully ICL surgery is considered extremely safe and is very rare that anyone ever has a problem
but I do encourage you if you are considering getting any eye procedure
talk to your local eye surgeon about what may be the best for you
as well as any complications or any concerns they may have for you and your eyes
so finally what are your thoughts and experiences with either ICL or LASIK
if either a friend, a family member or yourself has gone through either of these procedures
let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comment section below
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if you want to learn more about lasik eye surgery or other forms of refractive surgery
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again this is doctor allen, thanks for watching, keep an eye on it, and we will talk to you soon