Now, of course, this is just my experience. Not everybody who’s ever had this surgery is going to have as sharp a vision as I have, right? There’s no guarantees about that, but my eyesight is really sharp and I continuously still sort of look around every once in a while and be like, “Wow.” So, optically as a strong positive, it’s been amazing.

A Computer Screen Analogy

Kind of the best analogy of how good the eyesight is that I could come up with is like buying new computer screens for a computer, right? Your old screen may do 4K, but the new screen you get is 4K, but it’s also specifically engineered or designed for like running video games or something like that. And you can just tell that there’s an extra depth or crispness, better like dynamic range for colors and things.

Eye Pressure And Implant Design

My vision seems crisper in some way. Hopefully that analogy kind of lands. And then one other quick positive I’ll share here is my eye pressure is still very good. The implants that I had put in, these ICL’s are kind of the newer design that have a small port hole in the middle, which allows the aqueous humor to still flow through and keeps my eye pressure healthy and stable.

Light Sources Causing Halos

And if there’s a light source, usually a bright singular light source that’s non-diffuse, if it’s in my not direct line of sight, but if it’s off 45–60° somewhere here or above me, then I may see this bright halo appear in my vision. And it’s sometimes not just one, but I’ll see maybe two different halo sources, you know, in just one eye.

Seeing Multiple Rings Of Lights

So, if I’m just sitting here and there’s this light hanging off over here to the side, I’ll see four different rings of lights in my vision. And the brighter, more non-diffuse singular light source it is, the more obvious these halos kind of appear.

Movement Of Halos

And if I’m just sitting here, then they also appear stationary. But if I am moving or the light source is moving, then those halos also appear to move, which if I’m walking down like an apartment hallway, it kind of looks like this. Again, you see a bunch of different moving lights.

Halos While Driving At Night

Or if I am perhaps driving at nighttime and there’s a lot of traffic coming toward me, that’s probably the time you notice it the most. However, since I had the procedure, when I first had it, it was really obvious. I was constantly kind of analyzing them. I was hyper aware of them.

Concentrating On Other Things

I’m thinking about the next podcast episode that we’re releasing or, you know, just the next lecture I’m working on, things like that. And this actually is reflected in published literature as well. They report almost up to 60% of people who have ICL procedures do experience some form of glare or halos like this.

Halos Symptoms Decrease Over Time

But then over time, people report having less symptoms of these glare and halos. Usually again, it’s like again around 60% or so right after the procedure, but then about 6 months only about like 25–30% of people still notice them.

Long Term Halo Statistics

And then one study reported at 12 months, it was only around 15% of people reported still seeing them. And so while the symptoms of these halos do or have improved for me, I still think it’s maybe considered a negative for a lot of people and something important to be aware of if you’re ever considering getting a procedure like this.

Considering Your Own Anxiety Levels

Because if you’re somebody who says, you know what, I can totally adapt to it and ignore those. They don’t bother me. I just want to see really sharp and not have to deal with glasses and contacts, then awesome.

High Anxiety And Halo Impact

But if you’re somebody who knows you have high anxiety and knows that just even a light flickering off to the side of your vision distracts you, bothers you, annoys you, then perhaps you may want to consider that these sort of long-lasting symptoms you may think it’s not worth it.

Age And Reading Glasses Question

Now, one of the common questions we had in the comments of that previous video was, “Can you have this procedure when you’re like over the age of 40 and you need reading glasses?” The answer to that is yes.

FDA Approval Age And Options

Usually, if somebody is getting over the age of 40, technically this ICL procedure is approved in the US by the FDA up to age 45. But people can still have the procedure after that if their surgeon thinks it’s a good option.

Mono Vision As An Option

But what may be offered for ICL for somebody that’s approaching an older age, same thing if you’re going in for a consultation for LASIK or any other refractive procedure, is a surgeon may offer the option to do what is called mono vision.

How Mono Vision Works

This is where instead of having both eyes corrected like I did to see crispness in the distance, they can choose to have one eye set for far away.

Functional Benefits Of Mono Vision

So you can see nice and sharp whenever you’re driving or looking far away at a friend’s face coming down the hallway. But when you look up close, the other eye is made more nearsighted.

Reducing Dependence On Reading Glasses

That way, someone doesn’t have to rely as thickly on things like reading glasses. In fact, we use this a lot of the times with contact lens fittings or for cataract surgery. We have that option, too.

My Age And Accommodation

Now, of course, at the timing of having that surgery, I was only 36 and still have my full accommodative ability.

Current Near Vision Ability

Even now, if I try to use my eye muscles, I can see about 6–7 inches in front of my face. So, thankfully, I don’t need reading glasses just yet.

Future Possibilities For Reading Help

You know, when that time comes, who knows? Maybe I’ll go back to glasses. Maybe I’ll try multifocal contacts. Or perhaps I’ll try one of the new prescription medication eye drops that help people see better up close without having to rely on reading glasses.

Cataract Development Risk

So, a known possible side effect or consequence of the ICL surgery is an increased risk of cataract development.

Variability In Cataract Risk

Now, the statistics for this range based on what type of lens has been implanted.

Also the fact that this ICL procedure even though it’s been around for some time, you know, we don’t have it studied for 50 plus years, for example.

Long Term Cataract Study Results

However, some recent studies that have come out did report a 12-year risk.

After 12 years of the procedure, around 19% of a Korean population did develop a cataract at some point.

Newer Lens Technology And Reduced Risk

However, I will also add a more recent study looking specifically at the newer lens technology that I had put in where it had the small port hole that the risk of developing a cataract was much smaller.

They actually reported only a visually significant cataract at 5 years being around like 1.2%.

Higher Myopia And Cataract Risk

Another thing to understand is people who are higher myopic or have higher amounts of nearsightedness like myself around before my ICL surgery I was around a negative six or so that carries an increased risk of developing cataracts anyways.

Even Greater Myopia Means More Risk

So people who have even greater amounts of nearsightedness they’re perhaps at even higher risks of developing a cataract.

Confidence About Cataract Surgery Outcomes

And probably one of the reasons I’m not concerned about cataract surgery is because I have seen it so many times in my career and people usually have such great outcomes.

Advanced Implants After Cataract Surgery

In fact, a lot of the implants that we have available after cataract surgery, there’s some crazy cool technology in that that helps people again not only see really well in the distance, but potentially see better at all distances.

Lecture On Lens Implant Technologies

In fact, I’ve done a whole lecture that’s available here on YouTube all about these different lens implant technologies.

And if you again need to talk with your doctor about it, ask if they think you’re at higher risk.

Role Of Endothelium In The Cornea

So, the endothelium on the cornea of the eye, so the cornea of the front surface of the eye, model here is the back surface of that cornea.

And those cells are there and help pump fluid out of the cornea.

Otherwise, it becomes opaque.

Natural Cell Loss Over Time

But these cells do naturally degrade and we lose a small percentage of them naturally over our lifetime even without any eye surgeries.

Surgery Risks To Endothelial Cells

But any surgery that goes inside of the eye, whether it be cataract surgery or something like ICL, there’s always a risk of some damage occurring to these endothelial cells.

And so that is basically the concern that this surgery could cause a faster rate of death of these cells.

Recent Studies On Cell Loss After ICL

Thankfully, I was able to look it up and recent reports show that people who have had ICL surgery only have about a 1.5% cell loss afterward, which in fact lines up with basically our natural loss of these endothelial cells.

Unexpected Results After Surgery

Okay, so let’s now move on to the unexpected.

So, when I first had this procedure, one of my motivations was to not only just get out of the glasses and contacts, but was because I experienced so much dryness while wearing contact lenses, right?

Dry Eye Before Surgery

My eyes would dry out throughout the day, especially at nighttime sitting in front of the computer all day, and it would cause my vision to fluctuate.

And I was also concerned about the kind of long-term effect of inflammation and dryness on the surface of my eye.

Aggressive Dry Eye Treatment

Now, of course, I do have to add that I was aggressive about treating my dry eye before I had the surgery and I was aggressive after the surgery about continually treating any dryness and improving the comfort of my eye.

In fact, again, I posted whole videos about how aggressive my pre and post-op dry eye management was.

Risks Of Dry Eye With Surgery

And the reality is that with any eye surgery, I think the risk of having dry eye or some complication of ocular surface disease can definitely go up with all of the preservatives, the medications, and even just the surgeries itself may increase these risks.

Advocacy For Dry Eye Management

So, I myself am now a stronger advocate that we need to be doing more aggressive dry eye treatments before having any eye surgery, especially an elective procedure such as cataracts, LASIK, ICL surgery, these sort of things, as well as being aggressive about dry eye treatment after the fact.

Current Use Of Dry Eye Remedies

Do I still use artificial tears? Yes, whenever my eyes are feeling irritated.

Do I still use medications like prescription medications for my dry eye? Technically, yes.

I am testing out new dry eye medications that have come out since then.

Testing New Dry Eye Products

That’s just something I’m constantly testing new products, not only just to see if they work for me, but so I understand what my patients are going to be going through when they take them.

Reduction In Chronic Dry Eye Symptoms

But I’m personally not experiencing anywhere near the same sort of dry eye symptoms chronically like I had experienced before the eye surgery.

And I think that is largely just due to me not wearing contact lenses.

Factors Affecting The Cost

One is who’s doing the procedure, right? What surgeon is doing it.

Somebody who’s been doing a lot of them and has a really good track record may ask for a higher, more premium price.

Also, where are they having the procedure done? Does that surgeon own the surgical suite versus do they have to rent it from a hospital?

Those ICL’s are newer technology.

They cost a bit more.

Typical Price Range For ICL

Expect in the range of around $7,000 to $10,000 for having both eyes done.

Comparing that to something like LASIK eye surgery, which again has some variables to it, but somewhere around $4,000 to $5,000 for having both eyes is pretty typical.

And then for a different type of procedure like having a refractive lens exchange, expect that to be $12,000 or more for having both eyes.

So, it kind of falls in the middle.

No Guarantees For Everyone

Of course, nobody can guarantee that anybody else going to have this procedure is going to have the same fantastic results that I have.

Right?

Everybody’s got different health statuses, different eyes, different prescriptions.

There’s a lot of variables in that.

Relationship With Surgeon

But I will add that through this process, I’m really happy that I’ve not only had this great outcome, but I’ve actually become a little bit better friends with Dr. Sharp himself, the surgeon who did my procedure.

Him and I chat and text occasionally and I just keep him updated on where things are at.

Upcoming Podcast Guest Appearance

In fact, we’re going to be asking him to come on as a guest onto the Dr. Eye Health podcast.

So, if you have questions about ICL, about other forms of refractive surgery, whether it be LASIK or something new like SMILE, let us know in the comments because perhaps one of your questions will be picked and be able to address that and ask Dr. Sharp on that podcast episode.

Subscribe To The Podcast

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