This procedure is meant for young people (age less than 40 years) who have very high power of glasses, and where such numbers cannot be corrected by the usual Lasik procedures. Hence they are useful in powers beyond -8 or in eyes with lower power but where the cornea is very thin. Here, an ultra thin lens of a special design and the required power is positioned permanently in the eye over the natural lens inside the eye. This lens corrects the spectacle power of the eye.
A normal looking eye with an ICL
ICL Lenses
ICL is made in Switzerland and the order for the lens is placed as per measurements of the eye. The lens is then received by courier in about 10 day's time. ICL is of two types, ICL Spherical and ICL Toric. Spherical ICL lens corrects only spherical power of glasses. Toric ICL lens corrects cylinder along with spherical power of glasses.
The only method of permanent vision correction that didn't involve glasses or contact lenses available to patients who are not suitable candidates for LASIK is the ICL or the Implantable contact/ collamer lens. It is implanted in the posterior chamber, behind the iris, over the natural lens of the eye in order to correct the refractive error of the eye.
It offers vision correction that’s sharper and has greater depth and dimension than other refractive surgeries. In fact, ICL may produce superior vision quality as evidenced by fewer higher order aberrations than corneal refractive surgeries
Patients experience a nearly immediate visual recovery and the lens is invisible to both the patient and observers. The entire surgery takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes.
The lens is biocompatible and made of collamer, a collagen based material. It contains a UV blocker that prevents harmful UVA and UVB rays from entering the eye.
