I had issues with dry eyes and wasn’t a good option for lasik, so I had EVO Visian Implantable Collamer Lens surgery 2 years ago. Was $3500 per eye so $7000 total.
It’s not very well known. I had to ask for it specifically and even the receptionist thought I meant lasik until I clarified where it was listed on their own website.
It’s similar to cataract surgery but instead of removing your lens and replacing it; they just add a second one with your prescription in front of it. Basically it’s a permanent contact.
They slice a very small incision, slide in the folded lens, and then smooth it out. Takes 20-30 minutes. Doesn’t remove any tissue from the eye like other procedures or leave a flap. It can be reversed by removing the lens in another procedure, and can be redone in the future if your prescription changes a lot. They can also correct an astigmatism using these lenses.
After surgery, I wore eye shields at night for a week, and had to do the same eye drop protocol that is done after cataract surgery. 3 bottle of drops, 3-4 times a day for around 21 days. They had a single bottle option that combined all the meds which would’ve been only 1 drop 3-4 times a day, but it was $200. So I filled the 3 bottles at the pharmacy for a total of $30 instead.
Vision was perfect right after surgery. Eyes felt mildly dry for maybe 2-3 days but that could’ve been some of the drops.
So happy to not spend $800+ per year on contacts and solution, or worrying about losing a contact while swimming. I would do it again if it’s ever needed.
My glasses prescription was really strong, and my corneas are really thin, so LASIK wasn’t an option for me.
Anyone considering this surgery should research the side effects and risks (there are some meta-papers in medical journals that go over these items).
I experienced all of the visual artifacts below in the days/weeks after my surgery. At first they were very bad/noticeable.
After a couple of weeks, the only major issue was still getting halos. (Occasionally I also get the ghosting like in the Netflix image especially if my eyes are very tired).
Those have gradually diminished over the last year, and 99.9% of the time, I don’t even notice that I have the lenses in.
Night driving is a bit more annoying because I still get a lot of halos there, but it’s manageable, and my brain is better at filtering them out.
Overall getting this surgery was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I see better than 20/20, and no longer have to wear glasses/contacts. But I’m saying (to anyone reading this and considering it), go into it with the expectation of some risk (e.g. could cause early cataracts), and give your body time to recover from the surgery and your brain time to adapt & filter out the halos.
I had issues with dry eyes and wasn’t a good option for lasik, so I had EVO Visian Implantable Collamer Lens surgery 2 years ago. Was $3500 per eye so $7000 total.
It’s not very well known. I had to ask for it specifically and even the receptionist thought I meant lasik until I clarified where it was listed on their own website.
It’s similar to cataract surgery but instead of removing your lens and replacing it; they just add a second one with your prescription in front of it. Basically it’s a permanent contact.
They slice a very small incision, slide in the folded lens, and then smooth it out. Takes 20-30 minutes. Doesn’t remove any tissue from the eye like other procedures or leave a flap. It can be reversed by removing the lens in another procedure, and can be redone in the future if your prescription changes a lot. They can also correct an astigmatism using these lenses.
After surgery, I wore eye shields at night for a week, and had to do the same eye drop protocol that is done after cataract surgery. 3 bottle of drops, 3-4 times a day for around 21 days. They had a single bottle option that combined all the meds which would’ve been only 1 drop 3-4 times a day, but it was $200. So I filled the 3 bottles at the pharmacy for a total of $30 instead.
Vision was perfect right after surgery. Eyes felt mildly dry for maybe 2-3 days but that could’ve been some of the drops.
So happy to not spend $800+ per year on contacts and solution, or worrying about losing a contact while swimming. I would do it again if it’s ever needed.
I had the same surgery for $7600 a year ago.
My glasses prescription was really strong, and my corneas are really thin, so LASIK wasn’t an option for me.
Anyone considering this surgery should research the side effects and risks (there are some meta-papers in medical journals that go over these items).
I experienced all of the visual artifacts below in the days/weeks after my surgery. At first they were very bad/noticeable.
After a couple of weeks, the only major issue was still getting halos. (Occasionally I also get the ghosting like in the Netflix image especially if my eyes are very tired).
Those have gradually diminished over the last year, and 99.9% of the time, I don’t even notice that I have the lenses in.
Night driving is a bit more annoying because I still get a lot of halos there, but it’s manageable, and my brain is better at filtering them out.
Overall getting this surgery was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I see better than 20/20, and no longer have to wear glasses/contacts. But I’m saying (to anyone reading this and considering it), go into it with the expectation of some risk (e.g. could cause early cataracts), and give your body time to recover from the surgery and your brain time to adapt & filter out the halos.
That sounds great! Congrats
Man this sounds fantastic!