Refractive surgery with lens implants
Just like surgery with the excimer laser, refractive phaco and refractive implant surgery aim to eliminate a patient’s dependence on eyeglasses. The decision to use one technique or another (ICL or PRL implants and Multifocal lens implants) is in part based on a patient’s age. A young patient, whose corneas are not yet suitable for refractive surgery with Laser, can undergo techniques using ICL or PRL implants. An older patient (over 40) can undergo a procedure involving Multifocal lens implants, which make it possible to correct Myopia, Hyperopia and Presbyopia and thereby prevent cataracts for life.
Implantable contact lens (ICL) implants
For young patients with high myopias or hyperopias, limited vision or thin corneal thickness, it is better to implant a phakic intraocular lens (without removing the crystalline lens) than to use the excimer laser to correct the refractive error. Until today, all lens implants were rigid, so it was necessary to make a wide incision (5-6 mm) to implant them and then to use two or three sutures to close the incision. In addition, this practice also made it necessary to use local or general anaesthesia, which induced astigmatism and slowed visual recovery.
Since 1997, the procedure has been carried out in Spain using flexible epicapsular lenses (Implantable Contact Lens – ICL) that are placed between the crystalline lens and the iris.
The ICL are implanted using a 3 mm incision that is not necessary to stitch, which makes it possible to correct refractive errors with causing astigmatism. Other important advantages include the fact that it is performed using topical anaesthesia (drops), it lasts about 15 to 20 minutes and it is not necessary to be admitted or to cover the eye after the surgery, so visual recovery is practically immediate. The ICL make it possible to correct up to 18-20 dioptres of myopia and 9-10 dioptres of hyperopia.
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