ICL a permanent alternative to glasses
Doctors now have an option for patients not eligible for laser surgery. After years of wearing contact lenses in front of her eyes, Julie Pouncy got hers implanted inside.
Eye surgeon Dr. David Schneider said, “It’s a small lens that is rectangular in shape, similar to a contact lens, it corrects the vision, but it sits inside the eye rather than on the front.”
Pouncy was not a candidate for laser vision correction and this new lens offers her a permanent alternative to glasses.
Schneider said, “It’s made of a material called collimer, which is like collagen found in the body, so the body doesn’t react to it.” Each eye is done separately in different procedures.
In each procedure, the doctor prepares the lens by inserting it into a tiny tube. He then makes a small slit in the surface of the eye which is already numbed with a topical solution and inserts and unrolls the lens.
Each procedure in less than ten minutes. If needed, the lenses can be removed.The implantable contacts cost about a thousand dollars more per eye than laser vision correction. In most cases, they are not covered by medical insurance plans. The risks include infection and about a two percent chance of cataract formation.
September 22nd, 2008 at 5:47 am
My left eye lens became cloudy. Doctors said it will be replaced with artificial lens.How is it possible? What are the disadvantages?. Will it work permanently?