Halos...the big downside of ICL surgery. A necessary evil, I guess, for those of us who really struggled with their vision before surgery. The image above is a classic example of my halo experience at night. Looks relatively harmless in a static photo, but imagine driving down the interstate and all those halos are in motion, they're overlapping and growing, they disappear and reappear. Even the cat eyes on the roadway have halos, and the bright lines on the street glow and waver. Sometimes I find myself focusing on the halos and not on the cars in front of me.
For me, halos are not just a nighttime hassle. This atrium looks bright enough, no? And yet, I have 'halo effects'. I don't see these every day, just sometimes.
This image pretty much speaks for itself. I don't always see the tabs with my halos, but I always see them when I look at this elevator button panel in the parking garage where I work. Never fails.
The drops work most of the time for the halos, thankfully. My pupils are generally slow to react when the light changes on me, so sometimes I have to wait a few minutes before I can tell if they're really doing the job. Our pupils shrink as we age, so hopefully this problem will lessen over time. I just hope I don't have to wait til I'm 70 before finally being haloless.
12 comments:
Hi, I had the ICL surgery as well and I have halos too. Your halos seem a little bit worse than mines, since I only get the halos from light sources at night or when light is dim. You mention something about drops? What do you take?
I was prescribed Brimonidine Tartrate. It takes anywhere from a half hour to an hour to kick in fully. I don't use them regularly, as regular use does make you build up a tolerance to them. I just use them in movie theatres, concerts, or when I have to drive a significant distance on the interstate. Driving on side streets where there are streetlights aren't that much of a problem, although the halos do come and go on the drive.
Hi, I got my ICL 10 days ago! and im happy, only yesterday I started feeling like my pupil on my left eye, like tight, i dont know how to explain, like i wanna open my eye more, but i feel like i cant and it gets me all anxious.. did that happened to you, or do you know anything about it? i just feel really stupid calling the doctor about this small detail, because he already told me 2 days ago everything was fine and he wants to see me in 3 months so everythng should be fine. but did you feel this?
Liz, in the days following my surgeries, I did have a sensation that my eyelids were no longer able to close all the way, like because the lenses had made the outward part of the eye microscopically bigger. But I think that was my imagination, and its certainly not a sensation I have now. 10 days isn't a very long time, so you probably are still in the adjustment stage.
But call your doctor if you are concerned. That's what you pay him the big bucks for! ;) And don't let him dismiss your concerns out of hand. Unless your doctor has these lenses in his eyes, he can't know what it really feels like to have them. I swear I can feel them in my eyes (not uncomfortable, just noticeable), but one of the doctors at my surgeon's (not my surgeon himself) says I can't possibly be feeling them.
yes! My doctor told me i wasn't supposed to feel them, and we kind of argued about it, and then he changed the subject hahahaahah
its ok, i mean it's there, we are supposed to feel it, like fake boobs or something.
also, i have the halo thing at day time, you know, double vision. I'm really concerned about this, i dont wanna have it :(((
I see must of the outlines of everything double :( im scared.
hey can I use mascara? im so scared because that one is like you gotta really rub the eye to take it off :S im scared to hurt my eye..
i already used like eye shadows and it's been ok, but i havent used any liner or mascara because i dont wanna rub my eyes..
how did that work with you??
im sorry i have tons of questions, thank you so much for your time.
Im sorry I ask a lot! but when you went to the Dr about ICL.. did they do a test on you on cell count?? because I red they are supposed to do that on you before the procedure because we actually lose them behind the lens once it's in our eye..
i asked my Dr about it and he kind of changed the subject and told me about the only 2 risks, which were cataracts and retinal detachment..
im super scared about this thing on my eye, sorry.
Liz, how are your halos now? I've heard some patients' halos get better with a little healing. And some are like me, they still have them. There are definitely days when they're worse than others, and some days when they're hardly there. Average, though, is that they're definitely there in the dark. I'm noticing, though, that I'm not always having them indoors like I used to. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Have you asked your doctor about eyedrops for your halos?
Liz, re: mascara. Yes, I wear it. I even wear the waterproof kind. I use baby oil on a little cotton pad, with minor rubbing. I'm gentle with it, so its not been a problem.
As for cell count, no, I didn't ask. I didn't read about that until after I'd had my surgery, so it was a little late for that. And regarding retinal detachment, I don't think I'm at any more risk than I was before. I know they say its a possibility, but just being nearsighted raises that risk, and since only nearsighted people get ICL, well, there you go.
Nancy! Thank you for your answers...
well my halos, i guess they are better... the indoors ones, one day i have them only with my right eye, and next day with my left eye, and then they go away.. like today i dont haven them at all... I havent asked my Dr about the drops because I figured he'd say to wait a little bit more and see if they go away... next appointment If i still have them I'll ask.
waterproof? really? omg i'm so scareddd... like i even rub a little to take the eye shadows off.. and I feel like maybe im being a little harsh with my eyes..
im so happy with this things. seriously i think it's amazing what they do nowadays, right?? we're so blessed!
but on the other side, im scared as hell because the cataracts and glaucoma and the whatever risks :(
hello this is a fantastic page nancy....it exactly describes how my night halos are and daytime vision too.
i am about four weeks into my first new icl but still have these issue and starting to realse they may never go away ! as some people have also commented...i am too very worried about the cataract, glaucoma and ret det issue.
although vision is great, it seems that the worry that goes along with it all esp post surgery, makes me still wonder if it was all really worth it. profit making companies market everything so well !
Gaz Trew,
It's been 3 years since my surgeries and I can still say that I'm happy I did it. The daytime halos are not as noticeable, though the nighttime ones persist. However, I live with it ok and am not even using the anti-halo drops anymore. I don't like how they make my eyes feel (not painful, just odd). So I just use them in specific situations.
As for the side effect risks, just being extremely nearsighted puts you at risk - so of course ICL patients have a higher occurrence of things like retinal detachment, because only extremely nearsighted people are candidates for ICL. Now, I'm not a doctor, and those risks are real and to be considered with this surgery. So it is important that you get frequent checkups with your optometrist.
Still 20/20 and happy...
Nancy
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