My ICL Experience

3 years later

2011-05-23T12:37:00.000-05:00

It's been a little over 3 years since I had my ICLs done. As far as they're concerned, everything is holding steady. I'm still seeing 20/20, and still impressed by how clear things are outside in the daylight. The halos, unfortunately, are still holding steady, too. No change there. I've accepted them as a necessary evil with my ICL. I don't use anti-halo drops much anymore. I just use them in certain situations, like concert halls, dimly-lit restaurants, driving in unfamiliar areas in the dark. That's about it. I don't use them on a daily basis, as I really don't like how they make my eyes feel and it sort of dries out my sinuses. But they do the job when necessary.

My biggest problem at the moment continues to be the tear dysfunction problem. I don't call it 'dry eye' these days, because most of the time my eyes are anything but dry. They tear like crazy and are really red without some sort of steroid drop. I assume the tearing is due to my punctal plugs giving my tears nowhere to go. I don't know what the red is all about.

I went for a new procedure called "meibomian gland probing" (not as painful as it sounds!), that was supposed to free up the meibomian glands in the lids, but it didn't work for me. So now I plan to have my punctal plugs removed, or at least, a couple of them, to address the tearing. This will be done by a doctor at my ICL surgeon's office, so hopefully they will have some new ideas on what's causing all this. I have tears, just not good quality tears. It's frustrating, to say the least.

status report

2010-11-24T19:12:00.000-06:00

So, Daylight Savings Time has ended and with that, the need for anti-halos drops increases. I'm resisting, though, as, well, frankly I'm sick of squirting stuff in my eye. The halos are a lesser concern at the moment because for the last year I've been battling an unrelated infection/inflammation that I've just not been able to shake. It started with severe redness and increased dryness about this time last year - so red that I found myself not looking people in the eye for fear of grossing them out. I remember thinking on Christmas Day that the whites of my eyes looked like pepperoni - all red, bumpy, etc. Awful.

I had a follow up appointment scheduled with my ICL doctor, so of course while I was there the redness was discussed. At first the opthalmologist (not my surgeon) said it was a dry eye flare up (I had dry eye prior to surgery) and she prescribed a couple of things. Tried that for a few weeks with no results. Went back, was prescribed something else. Again, no results. The prescription given to me at the third visit turned out to be something I was allergic to, so I only used it twice. At that point, I decided to call my regular optometrist, as the allergic reaction needed immediate attention and getting into my surgeons office last minute is virtually impossible, and by this time I was ready for a second opinion. My optometrist prescribed something that made the whiteness go away, but every time I tried to taper it off (per my doctor's instruction), the redness came back. A few months ago, the tearing started. Copious amounts of tears. I had to keep tissues on my at all times, I was dabbing at my eyes every few seconds, having to apologize to strangers and tell people that 'no, I'm not crying'. It was a ridiculous amount of tears, and the redness was creeping back.

Fortunately, two weeks ago my optometrist gave me a new prescription that is working! Within two applications, the tearing had stopped and my eyes are white again. It remains to be seen if this will hold once I start tapering off again. But so far, so good.

Anyway, with all the stuff I've been squirting in my eyes this year, anti-halo drops are an afterthought. I still use them when absolutely necessary, but otherwise I'm just living with the halos.

Let's talk halos

2010-03-29T22:56:00.010-05:00

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.

It's been 2 years...

2010-03-28T10:53:00.002-05:00

Not much new to report, which I guess can be a good thing, too. My vision is still holding steady at 20/20, but the halos are holding steady, as well. Now that spring is here, my dependency on the halo drops will go down both because of the longer days and because with warmer weather I'll be spending more time outside and not indoors where the lighting can be dim. So, I'm looking forward to that.

I've mostly ditched the reading glasses. They seemed to make it hard for my eyes to adjust back to normal focus, and since I can read just fine without them, why bother? The only time I wear them is at work in a particular conference room. Something about the distance to the projection screen and the light level in there make them necessary. But that's pretty much the only place I use them at work. I think its the "halo effect" going on in there. The light is somewhat low, and though I may not actually see halos when I look at the projection screen, there's a slight blurring of the edges - not blurring, really, but duplication? That's not the right word, either. It's hard to describe. Anyway, the glasses help with that when its happening.

I'm getting frequent requests for information from others interested in having ICL surgery. I am happy to respond, as I was in search of the same perspective when I was considering surgery. At that time, I knew of one other person who'd had it, and I asked her lots of questions, so I know how the 'not knowing' can be.

The best thing you can do for yourself is to get as much information as you can prior to surgery so that you go into it fully prepared with knowledge of both the benefits and potential consequences. Based on my own experience and the experiences of others with whom I've communicated with who have had ICL surgery, you shouldn't go into it thinking you'll be just like someone who's always had 20/20 vision their whole life, even if you have 20/20 vision after surgery. The risks for retinal detachment that you have as a near-sighted person will still be there. ICL does not change that. Knowing that you have implants in your eyes will be a consideration, so anytime you have accidental impact on your eye (my niece's elbow, for example), you'll have an 'oh no!' moment just before you realize no harm was done. For me, my dry eye syndrome (which I had before surgery) makes my vision a little fuzzy when I first wake up, so I have to remind myself to wait a few minutes after waking before freaking out over nothing.

Wow, for 'nothing new to report', I sure had a lot to say. ;)

It's been 18 months

2009-10-07T19:24:00.003-05:00

Went back to the doctor a couple of weeks ago. Still seeing 20/20 (yay!). I do have reading glasses now, however they're not "readers" like most people need. They're to balance out the right eye, which was set for distance vision, with my 'near vision' left eye. Actually, I can read just fine without the glasses, but since I work at a computer all day (and spend too much time at one at night), the glasses just take some of the load off my eyes. I don't wear them all the time--in fact, its been a couple of weeks since I've worn them. I just don't think of it some days. They're the most help when my eyes are already tired.

There's been no improvement with the halos. The drops work great, when they're not used all the time. In the summer time is when they work the best, because then I'm only using them at the movies, in dim restaurants, etc. But as fall approaches and the days are shorter, I'll be using them more often. After a couple of months of daily use, they lose their effectiveness. But then when spring returns and they're used less often, they'll work much better again.

Still having a lot of dry eye problems (I had dry eye prior to surgery). Doctor thinks that may be ocular rosacea, since I have been diagnosed with regular rosacea. Who knew you could have that in the eyes? Not me! Anyway, trying some new prescriptions for the rosacea, so maybe that'll help the dry eye.

It's now been 9 months

2009-01-28T18:25:00.002-06:00

I went for a recheck with my surgeon last week and I'm still seeing 20/20. Still having issues with the halos, though. Some nights the anti-halo drops work better than others--I haven't figured out why. Some nights its perfect, most nights its ok, and every now and then its like I didn't even put them in.

But, overall, I'm still happy with the results.

It's been 3 months

2008-07-08T21:32:00.004-05:00

I went for my 3-month followup today. For the most part, everything is going just fine. The halos are still a problem, though, when I don't use the drops. But I learned through an ICL Yahoo Group that allergy medicines can dialate your pupils and I've been on allergy meds for months, so I'm going without now for a few days to see if it makes a difference. So far, it does seem to make a small difference in the intensity of the halos, but after 6 days of no allergy meds, I do still have halos. Here's what they look like at night:

But, like I said, the drops that were prescribed do make the halos go away. My surgeon did offer me some hope today that the halos could still diminish over time. He said that it can take up to a year for 'settling' in the eye. Part of the problem, too, is that I have larger-than-usual pupils for my age. Even so, I'm still happy I went through with this procedure.

Post surgery - It's been a month...

2008-05-09T19:38:00.002-05:00

So far, so good. I'm done with the post-surgical drops (yippee!) and now continuing in the healing phase. The doctor said it would take at least 3 months to heal. I've had no pain, but a lot of "Is this normal?" moments. Outside, particularly when it's sunny out, the sharpness of my vision is impressive. Perfect. It's weird, though--I still feel like a contact lens wearer. Maybe it's because I've always been very nearsighted and don't know what it's like being without vision problems. My eyes have the sensation of 'artificial lenses'. It's hard to describe. Doesn't hurt, it's not uncomfortable, but when I blink, I sometimes still have that sensation of...something. I don't know. That might go away with the healing process.

My biggest problem post-surgery is halos in low-light situations. Prior to surgery, I had halos when outside at night, but they were tolerable. Mostly wedge-shaped and they were over car head and tail lights. Now, they're completely round, more intense and I even have them indoors. There's a glow around the tv, even if the lights are on in the living room. The worst is when driving. I see them on car head and tail lights, street signs, my dashboard, the cat-eye reflectors on the interstate--everything. They're so intense that, at times, I don't feel safe driving at night, so I've avoided driving at night if possible. If I look directly at a light, the halo will disappear for a few seconds, but the instant my pupil expands in the darkness, the halos reappear.

I mentioned the halos to the doctor the day after the second surgery, and he said they would fluctuate. Maybe they do fluctuate in some people, but not me. They are consistently there whenever the light is low. I've reminded myself that I have a lot of healing to do, and they could still diminish or go away. So I'm not freaking out just yet.

I went for my one-month check to my regular optometrist this week and we talked about halos. I've been given a prescription drop to try. It's intended for glaucoma patients, but what it does is cause the pupil to constrict. I've used it twice and it worked like a charm. No halos! It makes my eye ache a little bit, but not bad. I just use it 30 minutes before I have to drive in the dark. At least now I have an option. I'm going to research driving glasses next. Something just to wear at night.