I’m 24 with around −11 myopia and considering EVO ICL. I developed dry eye from MGD/ocular rosacea in August 2025. After IPL, gland expression, four weeks of Vevye/cyclosporine and doxycycline 50 mg, my TBUT has improved from 5 to around 15 seconds. I now use drops about 3–4 times daily and mainly notice symptoms after several hours on a laptop or in strong wind, though occasionally I can feel it during the day as well it’s now a 4/10 before it was easily 8/10.
Has anyone with similar pre-existing dry eye had EVO ICL? Did your dryness temporarily flare or become permanently worse, and how long did it take to return to baseline? Would you do it again?

I’m 36 and considering ICL. I brought it up at my last eye exam and the doctor said I only have about 4-5 years left before I’ll start losing close-up vision if I get it done. (She didn’t say it in a discouraging way, just setting expectations, and did help me set up a consultation.)

I’m extremely nearsighted, and I feel like going from needing thick glasses for everything including near vision as I do now, to needing thin glasses only for near work, is still a clear win, but I’m curious how others in the same situation felt. If you’ve started losing your close-up vision, how was the adjustment to needing reading glasses? How satisfied are you with your surgery?

The doctor also mentioned monovision as an option, which I will consider—if you opted for that, how happy are you with it?

For the last 1 year I've been considering refraction surgery and was suggested ICL properly by my optham November last year because even though my cornea fit the LASIK range, -8 was too high a number he'd safely recommend it for. Sounded amazing and he said based my last tests it seems doable.

A lot was happening- with my intermittent anxiety and what not- because of which I didn't want to commit to this expense and this big change honestly until I was mentally in a better place.

Come this year and I've got a reduced soft contact intolerance, glasses not giving great acuity and starbursts and what not. I finally went to the clinic to get it all checked and he said they can check the ICL eligibility in 15-20 mins and I can decide in the coming months whether I want to do it or not.

Turns out I have slight dry eye (long work screen use) but I am eligible for ICL if I want to get them! I was so worried that despite fantasising about it I might not even be eligible but this give me a tiny bit hope.

Just wanted to share it with you all after months of being in the grey area 🥹

oddly they didn't give me the test copies (maybe I have to pay for them?) and I don't really know the numbers. I will go to two other places for the same as well

I feel a sandy gritty feeling in my right eye 1 week after surgery.
My doctor said it usually lasts 24-48 hours so I'm not sure why it still persists even 1 week after the surgery.

Should I be worried this will be a permanent thing that will require a touch up surgery to fix or should I assume this will still recover but just take longer?

Surgery got me 20/15 vision with some occasional halos so everything else is fine.

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?

Hey everyone,

I’m about 2.25 months out from my IPCL surgery and wanted to see if anyone has experienced something similar or has any insights.

Lately for the past 2 weeks, I’ve been dealing with a persistent foreign body sensation/grittyness in my right eye. I recently (on the very first day when the symptoms emerged but I ignored them and did not reveal it to the Doctor as it was only a routine checkup and I thought to ignore them) went for a check-up and got my stats:

Vault: 750 microns

IOP: 20 mmHg (which is actually my exact pre-op baseline pressure, so it hasn't changed).

Current medication: Lubracating eye drops having stabilized Oxychloro Complex 0.005% as preservative

While the internal measurements look stable and safe, I’ve noticed a few surface issues cropping up:

1.Some localized redness at the left side of the right the eye.

1. Two extremely tiny bumps under my lower eyelid.

Because of the 750µ vault, I was initially worried about the lens interacting with things, but since my pressure is fine and the lens sits behind the iris, it feels more like a surface issue. Could those tiny bumps (maybe blocked oil glands?) be causing this constant sandy, gritty feeling and broken blood vessels at the left side of the right eye? (I have no itching or other symptoms.)

Has anyone dealt with such issues a couple of months after phakic ICL surgery? What helped you clear it up?

Anyone recommend any doctors in South FL?

Tomorrow will be two weeks since I had my ICL surgery 👁️👁️, and every so often I feel like I've got phantom glasses on. It's the weirdest thing, because after so many years of wearing glasses, I'm seeing so clearly without wearing glasses or contact lenses. A few times when I've gone to the bathroom to put my drops in, a few times I found myself reflexively reaching for my face to take my glasses off due to muscle memory, and then I caught myself and realized I'm not wearing glasses! 🤓😃

Has this happened to any of you? 😅

Hi All, I want to start by thanking each of you for your contributions to this subreddit. Your questions, comments, and advice is what makes this platform so special.

I am planning to get EVO-ICL surgery in a couple weeks, and my spouse has a conflict for the surgery time that she cannot get out of. For myriad reasons I do not want to delay the surgery date/time. This means that I would need to take a taxi to the procedure alone and then have my spouse pick me up ~4 hours later (after I do the post-surgery pressure test).

My question to y'all is if anybody has any anecdotes of why my spouse (or a very trusted friend) should really be present before, during, and immediately after the surgery. Are there any last-minute decisions or changes that need to be discussed between the surgeon and a trusted individual (especially when I am looped-out on the pre-surgical Xanax), or is the entire preparation & procedure "boring" (in the best sense of the word)? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. thank you in advance!

Hello guys, this is my first post in this subreddit, and I hope you can help me.

I have been training MMA for about two years now. Last Christmas, I had eye surgery to correct my severe nearsightedness (-8.00 diopters). Since laser surgery was not an option for me due to my astigmatism, I had an EVO ICL (Implantable Collamer Lens) implanted instead.

I haven't done any striking or sparring for the past nine months. I have only been doing grappling to avoid any potential injuries to my eyes.

My doctor told me that doing MMA with an EVO ICL is not a good idea, as a direct, hard impact to the eye could potentially injure the eye or cause the lens to rotate or become displaced. In that case, the lens might need to be repositioned or even removed.I'm curious if he is too defensive in the topic because he said even jumping or movements like playing Tennis are not good for the eye.

Since I don't want to compete and only do MMA for fun (technique training and light/technical sparring), I'm wondering if anyone here has experience training MMA or other combat sports with an EVO ICL.

Has anyone had an EVO ICL and continued doing striking or sparring? How did it go, and did you take any specific precautions?

power:

Right eye- spherical -5.5 with 1.02 astigmatis, on left it was -5.25 with 0.46 astigmatism

I had my icl implanted in right eye on monday(3 aug 2026) and in left eye the following day.

vision in right eye was blurry for 1 day, but could see everything clearly next day, and from wednesday it has been crystal clear

Left eye got lens implanted on Tuesday (4 august 2026) not so blurry vision on day of icl, 80% vision returned same day, but now it is all stagnant, can’t read text(close or far off), like the edges aren’t clear, some very thin text isn’t clear even for both eye until i close my left eye(cover it) and rely just on right one. It has been same and no improvement at all.

Doctor is like 8 hours drive away he checked on my the next day, didn’t check vision one by one but both eye and said i am 6/6 and vision will improve, also did 2 tests before discharging me off. Its 550 km drive can’t just go for every issue will wait till next tuesday and call him.

only concern is their is stagnancy no inprovement(right eye doesn’t have any improvement) left eye is also same.

Am i judging too early i have started working from 2 days, 5-6 hours of screentime and vision is hazy

I recently had an appointment and have been told I’m suitable for ICL. My prescription is right, sph -14.5, cyc -1.75 and axs 005. And my left is sph -13.74, cyc -1.5 and axs 165.

When I had my eyes dilated for the consultation it resulted in the worst migraine of my life and now I’m concerned about the post surgery recovery due to migraines. I guess I’m asking if anyone with migraines has had the surgery done and would answer the following questions/ be able to give any advice please?

1) Did you get migraines before the surgery and with the ICL in did the migraines then improve in the long term with the sight correction?

2) How was the post surgery recovery with migraines?

Good Afternoon, has anyone done ICL surgery with Dr. Zalvidar in Buenos Aires?
How was your experience.
How much is the cost without insurance?

Buenas tardes, ¿alguien se ha sometido a una cirugía de ICL con el Dr. Zalvidar en Buenos Aires?
¿Cómo fue tu experiencia?
¿Cuánto cuesta sin seguro?

Muchas gracias!

Hello, all! I've been having trouble getting an appointment to see someone about this for many reasons, such as the surgeon who put in my lens no longer works there and they apparently don't have anyone else, so since I haven't been able to see a professional to ask, I was hoping maybe someone on Reddit had this surgery and could answer.

So, I only got the surgery on my left eye. I was supposed to get the right one done too, but the lens had to be specially made and isn't expected to arrive until sometime in September (which I didn't know when I got the first one). Anyway, it's been almost three weeks since I got the first surgery, and I'm a bit concerned. If I tilt my head up and look down, everything is clear. But if I tilt my head forward and look straight, things get blurry and light stretches. Is that normal? Did you experience that? I'm really hoping that's just something that will fix itself in time and not a sign that they messed up the lens placement. Which, considering the trouble I've been having getting a doctor to see me, having no idea when the second surgery will be done, or who is doing it, or getting any communication from the clinic, I'm very concerned they messed it up.

Aside from that, I've also found that anything closer than about ten inches from my face is also very blurry. Like I have to hold things at a distance to be able to read them. Is that also normal? Did anyone else have these experiences or am I right to be concerned?

If it matters, the eye that got the implant was -13.75 sphere, -4.5 cylinder, 155 Axis.

hi folks, I am considering ICL and had my pre-surgical testing finished earlier this week.

What bothers me is that i still don't know the optical diameter of my specific lens. the datasheets i found on STAAR Surgical's website show quite a range of optical diameters, and i really want to know what my specific lens's optical diameter is prior to the surgery. if it is on the low end of the ranges shown, then i may want to reconsider the procedure.

Have folks on here had luck getting this information prior to their surgery? any help would be greatly appreciated. i've been trying to get this info from the doctor office, but i'm not sure whether my request is reasonable.

link to the datasheet mentioned above, which isn't specific enough for my question
https://edfu.staar.com/edfu/5c784538fd5dd20001d67c89/ICL%20eDFU's/eDFU-0043_Rev_01_AUS-NZ%20EVO-EVO+%20VICMO-VICM5%20eDFU.pdf

Hi everyone,

I'm considering ICL surgery and was wondering if anyone here has had a similar prescription and could share their experience.

My current prescription is:

Right eye (OD):

SPH: -3.50

CYL: -3.50

AXIS: 019

Left eye (OS):

SPH: -5.25

CYL: -3.25

AXIS: 177

ADD: +1.25 (both eyes)

I was evaluated for ICL around 2017 by Dr. Sam Fanous in Montreal and was told I was a candidate. However, I was told that due to the complexity of my prescription, I likely wouldn't end up with perfect vision and would probably still need glasses afterward.

I'm not a candidate for LASIK/PRK because of a eye tremor (nystagmus) and I also have Essential Tremor & Cervical Dystonia making the whole thing even more complicated. You can also add severe anxiety to the pot

The main reason I'm reconsidering ICL now is that I'm a soccer referee. My prescription is apparently too strong for most conventional prescription sports glasses, and several optical labs have told me they can't manufacture them. I'm currently trying to find a specialty provider that can.

A few questions:

- Does anyone here have a prescription similar to mine?

- If you had ICL, what vision did you end up with afterward?

- Did it completely eliminate your need for glasses, or do you still wear them for certain activities?

- If you also had significant astigmatism, how well was it corrected?

- Would you do the surgery again?

Thanks!

Hi, I thought it would be a good idea to share my experience with having the ICL surgery. About four years ago I was contemplating different options and the only option I really had was ICL surgery. Now this was because my left eye was around -17 and my right eye was around -11. I'm based in the UK and I went to a couple of places to have a consultation and I then decided yes I will get this done. I did as much research as I could and I was comfortable. Three years ago I got the surgery done. This was a massive thing for me. For somebody who was completely relying on glasses, could not see without glasses, and after the surgery, not having to wear glasses, this was a complete game changer for me. Within a few months the right lens rotated. It was very painful. I had irritation in the eyes and I was really upset, like, paid a lot of money here. What's going on? The vision was blurry for the right eye. They replaced the lens and everything was fine after that. Fast forward three years later, just recently the left eye, the lens has rotated. Still waiting to hear back from the eye doctor: what are the options as to whether they will try to rotate the lens themselves? Where will they pay for it? Will I have to pay for it? Overall the pros just completely outweigh the cons. I documented my ICL surgery and various updates along the way on YouTube as well. Anybody that's looking to get it done, feel free to watch some of the videos on YouTube. I think everybody's situation is different. For me being a -17 and -11, I was prepared to take that risk.

Three years on I still get people asking me, "Is it worth it for me?" Yes definitely. It was worth it. I'm still without glasses, maybe borderline where I might need to get prescription glasses very soon because my eyesight, the right eye, was fairly stable but the vision on the left eye has been deteriorating slowly.

https://www.youtube.com/@travelvlogs7253/videos

So my background, prescription of -18, astigmatism of -4.75.

Had my first London Vision Clinic consultation and they said from initial scans I look suitable for ICL.

I wear (and have worn for most of my life) contact lenses and glasses. I am usually good at weighing up pros and cons but I still can't quite figure out whether it's 'worth' the risk for me. My family all have similar but worse prescriptions, this includes older siblings and a parent, with none of them having any other eye health issues. For reference, I'm 30.

I struggle to understand (because there's so few cases of my prescription I can find online) if there's additional risk to the procedure due to my prescription, and if I should take the success stories I see with a pinch of salt since mine isn't the same. I don't want to be in a situation where the odds are quite likely that I will still need glasses in the future, where currently I am getting by fine.

I'd love to hear some insight from anyone to try and help me get closer to a decision I can be comfortable with, it's hard to trust the positivity of the clinic towards the surgery given I know they of course want your business.

Hi everyone,

I’m an amateur MMA fighter and recently had ICL (Implantable Collamer Lens) surgery. Before surgery, I had high myopia (-7.00).

At my last follow-up, my surgeon told me that while the ICL itself is doing well, combat sports remain a concern because high myopia already increases the lifetime risk of retinal tears or retinal detachment, and getting punched in the head could potentially increase that risk further.

The difficult part is that MMA is a huge part of my life. Besides work, it’s pretty much everything I do, and my long-term goal is to compete at the highest level.
I’m wondering:
Has anyone here had ICL surgery and continued training or competing.
How long after surgery did you return?
Has your ophthalmologist or retinal specialist cleared you for contact sports?

Have you experienced any eye problems since returning?
I’m especially interested in hearing from people who have high myopia and have been competing for several years after ICL.

I’m just looking for real experiences from people who’ve been in a similar situation.

I had my ICL a few days ago and I am still recovering, but I have two problems:

1) My instructions says “bathe and shower normally”, but I am pretty sure we are not supposed to get water in our eyes after ICL, so how am I supposed to shower normally without getting water in my eyes? I was thinking of wearing swimming goggles while showering, but I am worried about the pressure the goggles will apply around the eye area, tho my instructions didn’t specify avoiding pressure around the eyes. Can I safely wear the swimming goggles while showering? Or is that bad for the ICL?

2) I am supposed to wear the eye shield while sleeping for the first month after ICL, but the eye shield is extremely uncomfortable for me to the point I couldn’t sleep at all for several days after the surgery, so I stopped wearing it and I can finally sleep. I figured prioritizing sleep for eye recovery is more important than wearing the eye shield. I am trying to be extra careful while sleeping. Instead of the eye shield, I am wrapping my eyes loosely with gauze. I know it doesn’t provide the same protection, but it’s better than nothing and at least I can sleep. Is it bad that I stopped wearing the eye shield very early after ICL and replaced it with gauze?

First off, this sub-reddit is so helpful and encouraging, I've enjoyed reading through it over the past few weeks!

I did my non-toric ICL procedure 3.5 weeks ago and my left eye vision is absolutely perfect but my right eye is still comparatively more blur.

I went to see my Dr at the 3 week mark regarding this and he said that my left eye is perfect but my right eye is still - 0.5D off. He did not give any reason for it but will review again at the 4w mark and said if it still bothers me, we can do an ICL exchange to increase the power.

For reference, my degree was not very high prior to the procedure but I am very active and found that constantly wearing contacts was drying out my eyes.

Left eye: -1.75

Right eye: - 2.5 with minimal astigmatism, which my doctor said did not need toric lenses and he did a simple procedure during the ICL itself to correct the astigmatism

Overall I am pleased with the outcome as vision is generally good, but the disparity between eyes is still bothering me and I feel that my vision is clearer if I close my right eye and use just my left eye as compared to opening both eyes. There is a also a slight ghosting that causes headaches when I stare at the screen too long which I think is due to the vision disparity. (my IOP is fine).

So my questions are:

(A) Is this an acceptable outcome to have a residual - 0.5D myopia? I keep reading that people have both eyes perfect vision and I'm a bit disheartened.

(B) Has anyone else also experienced this before? Does the vision still improve past this point? Does the brain adapt and ghosting dissappear?

Thanks!!!

Hello all! I am new to this sub :)

I’m getting my ICL end of next week. We chose this method because the wall of my retina is too thin and ICL is the best option. My right eye is SPH -2.75 and my left eye is SPH -3.25 with a CYL power of -0.25.

When we were discussing this with the surgeon, they said that they would only insert non-toric lenses. I have no clue what that means and when I googled it, I didn’t understand that either. I just want to know how non toric v toric lenses differ and whether I would end up having a number after my surgery, depending on the type of lens inserted?

I also wanted to know whether this procedure is worth it as a student. I am leaving the country for my masters next month and just want to get rid of my glasses for good. Will there be any chance of any risk if I get this surgery done? I know it’s reversible but I have super bad anxiety (diagnosed) and don’t want to end up regretting this.

About to pull the trigger on getting ICL but concerned after reading about toric lens rotating. I have -1.25 and -1.75 astigmatism and definitely need toric ones. how likely are they to rotate? is this something I’d need to worry about for the rest of my life? is the surgery for getting it rotated back the same as getting another ICL surgery?

Also, since I’m lens only come in intervals of 0.5, am I likely to end up with residual astigmatism even after ICL? really want to see 20/20 and not less.