ICL: procedure guide

Questions about ICL

Each answer below is the short version; the question links to the page that carries it in full, with sources.

• How does SMILE compare with an implantable lens (ICL)?

  SMILE reshapes the cornea and removes tissue; an implantable lens leaves the cornea intact and adds a lens inside the eye. They are used in different situations, most often at high prescriptions where too much corneal tissue would be needed.

• What are the options for high short sightedness?

  The options for high short sightedness are laser procedures where the cornea can safely spare the tissue, and lens-based options such as an implantable lens where it cannot. Which applies to you depends on your measurements.

• What prescription is too high for LASIK?

  There is no single cut-off figure, because the limiting factor is usually how much corneal tissue the correction would require rather than the prescription number on its own.

• Which procedure is suitable for high short sightedness?

  The limiting factor is how much corneal tissue the correction requires, not the procedure name. Techniques that remove less tissue, and lens-based options, come into their own as prescriptions rise.

• Which procedure is suitable for thin corneas?

  Where the cornea is thin, procedures that remove less tissue or need no flap are more likely to be considered, and a lens-based option may be raised where even those would take too much. The deciding measurement is the predicted remaining thickness.

• What is high short sightedness?

  High short sightedness generally means a prescription beyond the moderate range, and there is no single boundary that every clinician uses. What matters practically is that higher prescriptions ask more of the cornea, which is why they are planned from thickness and shape measurements rather than from the prescription alone.

• What is an implantable contact lens (ICL)?

  An implantable lens is a corrective lens placed inside the eye in front of your natural lens, without removing it. It is used most often for higher prescriptions where laser surgery would remove too much corneal tissue, and the natural lens remains in place.

• Can PRK treat a high prescription?

  It can, within the limits the cornea allows, and surface treatment is sometimes chosen precisely because it conserves tissue compared with creating a flap. Higher prescriptions remove more tissue wherever the treatment is applied, so the measurement matters more than the technique.