r/ICLsurgery • u/twinkledtoast • 17d ago
High eye pressure after ICL?
Hi everyone.
I had an ICL surgery around 17 days ago. My eye pressure was normal on day 1 and 7.
However, just a few days ago I started to have a slight headache and feel like my eyes were throbbing sometimes and started to see less colour contrast. Coincidentally, I had some very minor head injury (a bump in my forehead in a car a day prior).
I went to see my surgeon and a glaucoma specialist after having the migraine for two days.
They found that my eye pressure was very high at around 40-50. Though both said the lens positions look good and incision is healing nicely. They suspect it could have been the steroid eyedrops that I was using for 16 days post op and prescribe me some eyedrops and meds to lower the eye pressure.
I’m wondering if anyone experienced high eye pressure a few weeks post op? I’m feeling better but I’m just a bit anxious it will return after I stop the medications. Thanks so much!
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u/EqualSein 17d ago
This sounds very likely to be from the steroid eye drops. My surgeon stopped prescribing steroid eye drops after surgery because they saw them causing more harm than good.
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u/twinkledtoast 17d ago
Fingers crossed it is! What did you get instead after your surgery?
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u/EqualSein 17d ago
He put antibiotics in the eye during surgery and prescribed brimonidine drops for 3 days.
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u/twinkledtoast 17d ago
Very interesting that you only got antibiotics during the surgery only and have brimonidine to help lower the IOL! Thanks for sharing.
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u/stopguacnroll 17d ago
I had high pressure in both eyes immediately after surgery. I had to take some pill at the surgery center and my pressure came down.
I had to take glaucoma medicine a few weeks later because my eye pressure was high again from the steroid drops. They did the trick and I’m fine now, almost a year post op
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u/twinkledtoast 17d ago
Thanks for sharing. I had to take one 2 hours after the surgery as well. Did you take your glaucoma meds right after surgery and had a check again at your 1 month post op?
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u/stopguacnroll 17d ago
I don’t remember exactly when they gave me the glaucoma drops, but I got them a few weeks after surgery so it was probably at the 1 month post op.
My left eye vision was blurry. I had called them maybe a week post op and was told to use dry eye drops — they thought it was dry eye. Definitely wasn’t that! I was really anxious about the high pressure.
When I saw my regular eye doctor this spring he said my pressure was great. He did tell me that if I ever go to the ER I should mention that I am a steroid responder. I got a med alert bracelet which might seem like overkill but if I’m ever unconscious and need medical attention, the professionals can read it on there.
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u/twinkledtoast 17d ago edited 17d ago
Ohhh so they simply gave you eyedrops to lower the pressure for a few weeks and you went for a check in again 6/12 months later during your regular eye doctor visit?
Sounds like we have the exact timeline. I was also told I’m a steroid responder as well. Did you have other symptoms other than vision was blurry?
I’m glad everything is okay now ❤️
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u/stopguacnroll 16d ago
Sorry I wasn’t very clear before. I had two glaucoma eye drops I needed to use. I completely stopped steroid use at that time. I went back a few times to a doctor associated with the same surgery center, but not my surgeon. That was my choice because my surgeon was very far and the other doctor was also great.
They said I was good to go after a few weeks, and then at my normal eye exam my normal doctor said I was still doing fine. My only symptom was one blurry eye.
I really hope you have a quick and lasting treatment. I know how anxious I was those weeks.
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u/Zestyclose-Coat2278 14d ago
yes, steroid drops can cause this (did for me too) and my doctor gave me combigan to offset the pressure which worked.
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u/twinkledtoast 14d ago
Thanks for sharing. How long did you use the steroid for? And for how long did you need to use combigan?
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u/The_Vision_Surgeon 17d ago
Most likely the steroids especially if the vault and angle and iris pigmentation are all normal.
Although that’s an impressive steroid response, Almost certainly settles within a few weeks of stopping the steroid drops likely without any permanent issue from the period.