If I receive an ICL will I always remain free of corrective lenses?
Published May 5, 2011
In patients with myopia of -3.0 to -15.0 Diopters (D), the vast majority do not require corrective lenses after ICL implantation. However, in patients with extreme myopia, -15 to -20 D or higher (“Coke-bottle” spectacles), use of corrective lens after ICL implantation may be necessary to correct any residual refractive error. In either case, complete independence from corrective lenses while very common, is not guaranteed. Glasses or contact lenses may only be needed occassionally (ie. driving at night or other activities performed in low light conditions). In certain cases, supplemental Laser Vision Correction to “fine tune” the result may be considered.
Individuals in their teens to mid 20’s may naturally develop gradual changes in their spectacle or contact lens prescription due to continued growth of the eye. Implanting the ICL after your spectacle or contact lens prescription has remained stable for a year or more reduces the possibility that dependence on corrective lenses could again develop. Supplemental Laser Vision Correction to “fine tune” the result could be considered in those few who experience a refractive shift years after ICL implantation.
In patients age 43 or older with presbyopia the ICL is capable of reducing or eliminating the need for distance glasses, but reading (near vision) glasses will still be required.
As the eye ages, cataract formation may shift the refraction of the eye. If such a patient had an ICL implanted years earlier without subsequent need for distance corrective lenses, they may once again require glasses because of changes in the power of the crystalline lens induced by the cataract. More dramatic shifts in an eye’s refraction accompanied by optical degradation due to cataract formation are easily reversed by removal of the ICL followed by cataract surgery with an intraocular lens.
