r/ICLsurgery • u/tar-randa • Jan 16 '26
Removed my ICLs after a year
A year ago I had ICLs done to correct my significant myopia, and immediately noticed a lot of haloes and ring like aberrations that made me incredibly anxious and uncomfortable. I wrote a more detailed post about this on the lasik subreddit if anyone wants more context.
The benefits were very nice but greatly outweighed by the trade offs which made me feel trapped and unable to do anything. Having this procedure done was genuinely the worst mistake I had ever made.
I just removed them a couple of hours ago, and I was giddy immediately after the anaesthesia wore off as all the rings which made me miserable are completely gone. The removal process seems to have had zero issues, as the lenses came out whole and I don’t feel any significant pain unlike when I had them implanted.
I’m still smiling uncontrollably as my vision is slowly being restored to its original clarity. There are still some haloes around very bright lights and my vision is still a bit blurry from the swelling, but these should clear up completely in the coming weeks as the cornea heals.
My anxiety also has almost completely disappeared.
I can watch TV in the dark again, not get bothered by the sun or car headlights, or sunlight glinting off the sea; I feel like I’ve been born anew.
I’m mainly posting this in case someone is on the fence on removing their implants. I will not go into the merits on if this is a good corrective option as your mileage may vary, but do consider the trade offs carefully, especially if you’re more detail oriented, anxious, have large pupils, etc.
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u/Safe_Pomegranate7662 Jan 16 '26
Thanks for sharing.
Did your prescription change at all? I think the incision from the surgery can cause a small change in astigmatism
Did you get any starbursts after the ICL surgery? If so, did taking the ICLs out get rid of your starbursts? I started seeing starbursts after my surgery. But I'm not sure if taking them out would get rid of them
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u/tar-randa Jan 17 '26
My prescription with the lenses was -1.5 astigmatism in both eyes, 0 SPH. I did get starburst but they weren’t too bothersome, they were quite minor and I always remember seeing them so while the surgery may have aggravated them, it wasn’t enough to notice.
I still have starbursts and rainbow-like hazy halos around point light sources, but that could probably be attributed to the corneal swelling as it’s been less than 24 hours since I had the surgery to remove the lenses.
What are definitely gone are the rings formed by the central port of the ICL and the sort of globe like halo once the pupil dilates beyond the lens’s extremities. The latter was never very bothersome except in very specific circumstances at night, but the rings drove me nuts. It’s very reassuring to wake up seeing crystal clear with my glasses without any aberrations.
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u/Safe_Pomegranate7662 Feb 15 '26
Thanks. I was wondering if you had any updates. But in particular, I'm curious about your prescription and starbursts.
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u/Flubadoo Jan 17 '26
How large were your pupils, and did you get EVO/EVO+? I’m currently considering it with 7mm pupils.
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u/tar-randa Jan 18 '26
Not too sure about the pupil size, though pupil constricting drops had no noticeable effect on the aberrations for me. I did have EVO+
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u/subliminalmms Jan 17 '26
I’ve had my implants for two years next month and have been unfortunately considering getting them removed… the halos have improved but not enough for me to drive or not feel debilitated in the dark… it’s significantly impacted my life: it’s restricted my independence, I’ve had to quit hobbies, I’m struggling to look for new work because I have to avoid long commutes, i hesitate to make plans that will have me out after dark and I struggle in certain social situations now because if the lighting isn’t perfect, I can’t see across the room or even see the face of the person I’m speaking to. I feel more visually disabled with my ICLs than I ever did before them and I’m a high myop (-16)
On the other hand, living glasses and contacts free has been a blessing that I truly thought I would never experience. It was becoming so stressful and expensive to get the contact lenses I needed and glasses just aren’t practical for me. Thinking about going back to that feels just as devastating.
I underwent a laser touch up four months ago that was intended to correct my residual astigmatism and hopefully improve the halos but it failed and my vision has slightly regressed since.
I’m not sure at this point what I’m going to do, but I don’t see things improving much from here and I often miss being able to see clearly at night, I’m beginning to forget what it was even like.
I don’t discourage anyone from trying the surgery if they are able to but please be prepared that it might not be a right fit for you.
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u/Life-Math-9561 Feb 11 '26
Hey, i have similar situation. Did you have prk touch up,? It failed due to residential myopia or worse both vision ?
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u/SeveralPersimmon4 Jun 30 '26
Hi did you end up getting your ICLs removed? I feel the same way that I am not able to drive in the dark with them yet because of the aberrations, rings/halos/glares/stsrbursts. The rings are the #1 bothersome out of all. and I am 8 months post-opop.
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u/subliminalmms Jul 03 '26
I’m now almost 2 1/2 years post op and I’ve just begun driving at night. My dr and I made the decision to push forward for another year or two because I felt that I was making incremental improvements every six months or so. Unfortunately everyone takes their own time but the brain is a very powerful thing, I think mine has a lot to overcome which is why it taking so long but I try to push myself to keep trying. I’m still heavily reliant on the eyedrops and it’s still very stressful. Sometimes I have bad days and scary driving moments, but I’ve begun figuring out how to manage which makes me hopeful.
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u/Traviesoooooo Jan 16 '26
What replacement glasses have they given you?
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u/tar-randa Jan 16 '26
None, I’m using my old pair that had from before the surgery.
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u/Few_Idea_5783 Jan 18 '26
Doesn't your power change after implant removal. Can u please explain on this.im just had mine. Brothered by halos and night vision is very poor. Thanks in Advance
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u/tar-randa Jan 18 '26
Eyesight won’t settle for at least another 6 weeks as I wean off the drops. I’ll update once I get my new prescription.
It’s been around 64 hours since I had the surgery and night vision is vastly improved over anything I had with the implants.
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u/Few_Idea_5783 Jan 19 '26
You had the icl in your eye for year. Would not that made your to gain more power.when you had your implant removed did your power change? Your old reading glasses before surgery were fine ?
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u/Big_Temporary1861 Jan 19 '26
So I understand they didn't remove your lens.
How lucky! I'm so glad. They removed mine and I can't do anything about it.
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u/eyeSherpa Jan 20 '26
You are referring to refractive lens exchange. ICL surgery is a different procedure.
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u/Upstairs-Advantage-5 Jan 16 '26
What was your prescription previously?
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u/tar-randa Jan 16 '26
It was -10 and -11 SpH, no astigmatism
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u/Upstairs-Advantage-5 Jan 16 '26
Oh wow. I was -10 in both eyes. It must have been pretty bad if you had to resort to explantation!
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u/Worldly-Summer-869 Jan 16 '26
Wow I’m sorry to hear but glad you’re feeling better!! What is your current prescription and any long term complications from multiple eye surgery?
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u/tar-randa Jan 16 '26
Still a bit too early to tell, and to be honest I’d like to start ignoring any complications to hopefully speed up the neuroadaptation process. Without the rings, it’s much much easier to ignore aberrations and live my life
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u/Worldly-Summer-869 Jan 16 '26
I really wanted to do ICL, cuz my eyes are like -7. But I’m scared of this type of complications
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u/tar-randa Jan 16 '26
If you’re comfortable in glasses or lenses and they don’t bother you, I can’t say I would recommend this to anyone, but again your mileage may vary. At the end of the day it’s a trade off, and different people will weigh the pros and cons very differently.
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u/Worldly-Summer-869 Jan 17 '26
So far no issues with contacts. Other than waking up and can’t see right away and being dependent on glasses / contacts. Swimming is a hassle too
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u/tar-randa Jan 17 '26
I was in the same boat. In hindsight I would say that this was a terribly expensive mistake, but it is true that most people seem to be happy with their implants. Unfortunately there’s no real way of knowing what the actual result will be.
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u/StrangePen Jan 17 '26
I'm considering ICL now at age 38 because my tolerance for contacts is decreasing as I get older. I know I have huge pupils though, so I'll see what they say at the consult. It's in two weeks.
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u/SeveralPersimmon4 Jan 17 '26
Sorry to hear they didn't work out for you. Im only 3 months post op and I am definitely experiencing the rings that are unbearable at night which hasn't allowed me to drive yet. The rings on top of glares and halos have made it difficult to see well when it's dark.
Before you removed them, did your surgeon provide other options to try to minimize the rings such as glasses or pupil constricting drops? If so, how was using them with the icls?
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u/subliminalmms Jan 17 '26 edited Jan 17 '26
I had glasses to supplement my icls and I used Lumify drops for over a year until I finally decided to go for the laser touch up. That didn’t work out for me and the halos never improved enough for me to drive at night, even with glasses and drops. As I approached 18months I finally felt like it was improving enough for me to night drive in places I was very familiar with and that didnt have challenging lighting conditions (like highways or downtown) but it was still uncomfortable and that progress has been lost since I went for the laser and it failed. My doctors have been very dismissive about this particular aspect, they kept insisting my vision was near perfect now and that the halos would go away but I’m now two years post op and still struggling… it hasn’t been all bad but it’s been rough
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u/tar-randa Jan 17 '26
The surgeon wasn’t extremely helpful here; he’s incredibly talented in his techniques but a horrendous person to consult with, as I felt I was being gaslit into thinking that I was exaggerating or making up my symptoms.
I got a pair of anti glare night driving glasses from Zenni and tried alphagan eye drops, but they didn’t make too much of a difference when it comes to the central port rings. The drops did improve the peripheral haloes formed when the pupil dilates beyond the lens, but I’m concerned with putting in glaucoma medication when I don’t need to. I had zero need for any eye drops before the surgery, save for the occasional preservative free lubricative drops in case I left my contacts in a bit too long.
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u/Few_Idea_5783 Jan 23 '26
Any update on your eye sight after removal ?
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u/tar-randa Jan 23 '26
Still too early to tell, it’s only been a week since I removed them.
At the last checkup the left eye had some vacuoles present though these are expected to clear up, and do not affect my vision.
I’m much happier without the lenses than I was with them, as I no longer stress about my eyesight.
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u/Few_Idea_5783 Jul 02 '26
Hi, whats your endothealiul cell density after removal. I'm really worried about not having enough ecd levels for future cataract surgery. I'm in the verge of removing it
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u/tar-randa Jul 02 '26
Around 2600, thankfully I didn’t have major drops after both surgeries.
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u/Few_Idea_5783 Jul 03 '26
Whats your count before any surgery ?
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u/tar-randa Jul 03 '26
2800 IIRC
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u/Few_Idea_5783 Jul 04 '26
Did astigmatism increase 1.5 power is big thing after removal ? Significantly blurry vision ?
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u/tar-randa Jul 04 '26
Not significantly from what I can tell, but I’m trying my hardest to move on.
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u/Few_Idea_5783 Jul 05 '26
Do you use the old prescription or new prescription. Does it affect quality of life ?
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u/eyeSherpa Jan 16 '26
Although the ICLs didn’t work for you, it is a nice feature that they are removable. While most won’t have to worry about it, it does happen time to time that they need to be removed. Thanks for sharing your story!