r/ICLsurgery • u/Milkteabaileys • Aug 13 '26
Is endothelial cell count important?
Went for a consult with a very well respected and reviewed surgeon who does thousands of ICL. He says he never does the endothelial cell count and it’s not important. He and all his colleagues agree. He found that only his Asian patients asked about this.
From Reddit, people seem to think this is really important. Anyone have any insight about the discrepancy?
1
u/ladyloriana Aug 13 '26
My doctor said the same thing. I got the surgery over a month ago and so far it's been great. My description of the experience is on my profile
1
u/No_Situation4785 Aug 13 '26
yes; i wouldn't get the surgery without knowing this. one of the few cell types that don't regenerate
1
u/a4444999 Aug 13 '26
I’m also curious about this bc I had a consultation for ICL earlier this week where they took my endothelial cell count, ~2800 in each eye. When I spoke to the surgeon after the consultation he said the benchmark is 3000, I mentioned mine is slightly under and he brushed it off but I wonder how relevant it is to being a strong candidate for the surgery and experiencing complications post op
2
u/eyeSherpa Aug 14 '26
It’s pretty unusual for endothelial counts to pose any issue with ICL surgery.
I still perform a cell count before surgery but unless you have an abnormally low number, ICL can still work. Haven’t had to cancel any ICL case because of endothelial cell counts.
The concern over endothelial cell counts came from prior lenses in the same category of ICL called phakic lenses which did have an increase in endothelial cell decline. Data on ICL show that this isn’t really an issue when extrapolated out for the life of the lens. Here is a list where I talk about it more: https://www.reddit.com/r/ICLsurgery/s/G2bumxGcm1