See Life in High Definition With the EVO ICL
The Next Generation in Vision Correction Is Here
Welcome to Will Vision & Laser Centers, the Pacific Northwest’s premier destination for advanced eye care solutions.
As a perfect complement to our state-of-the-art LASIK procedures and RLE with the light adjustable lens from RxSight®, we are pleased to provide the opportunity to transform your vision with the EVO (Evolution) Implantable Collamer Lens technology™ (ICL) from Staar Surgical®. Designed for sharp, clear vision, EVO ICL is an invisible, lens-based solution that corrects vision without altering the structure of your eyes. Enjoy life with crisp eyesight and the freedom to ditch your glasses and contacts.
What Is EVO ICL™?
Advanced Vision Correction That’s Reversible: The EVO Implantable Contact Lens™ is an advanced vision correction technology, sitting invisibly in your eye with the capacity to correct myopia (nearsightedness) and astigmatism. Unlike LASIK or traditional contacts, these lenses are implanted inside the eye. This provides clear, permanent – but reversible – vision correction, offering long-term flexibility.
Permanent but reversible may sound a bit like an oxymoron, but these implantable contact lenses are designed to stay in the eye permanently and do not typically need any adjustments or exchange. However, unlike LASIK or RLE, the EVO ICL™ can be removed at a future date, if your vision changes significantly or if you want to explore other vision correction options. Being reversible, it offers a unique advantage over virtually all other options currently available.
Benefits of EVO ICL™
Advantages over LASIK, RLE, or Soft Contact Lenses: Choosing EVO ICL™ means experiencing life with unmatched visual clarity and comfort. Although performed less frequently than LASIK or RLE, the EVO ICL™ demonstrates several benefits over any of these alternative vision corrective procedures. These benefits include:
- High definition vision, day and night without the hassles of contact lenses
- Completely reversible if one’s vision needs change in the future
- Ideal for patients with pre-existing dry eye
- Ideal for patients with thin corneas
- Ideal for patients whose cornea shape or structure makes them a non-candidate for LASIK
- Ideal for high degrees of nearsightedness or astigmatism
- Superior vision quality for higher degrees of nearsightedness when compared to LASIK
- No need for maintenance like contact lenses that are worn externally on the eye
- Protection against damage to the inner eye structures from ultraviolet light (UV) created by a UV blocking filter that is built into the EVO ICL™ lens
The Procedure
How It’s Done
Simple, Quick, and Pain-Free: The procedure for inserting the EVO ICL™ is minimally invasive, pain-free, and is generally completed within 20-30 minutes. Under local anesthesia using eye drops and an oral sedative, a small opening is made in the side of the cornea away from the visual axis. The EVO ICL™ is folded like a taco and inserted into the front chamber of the eye. Once inside the lens unfolds spontaneously. The surgeon then carefully orients the lens to the correct axis and gently tucks the four corners under the iris. The lens then floats on the front surface or the crystalline lens of the eye in the same manner that a soft contact lens floats on the cornea.
Once the lens is in place and aligned, the vision is immediately corrected and the patient can see. There will be improvement in the vision as the eye heals but typically the vision with the EVO ICL™ becomes clear very quickly.
Preparing for Surgery
Understanding Your Vision Goals: Before your procedure, your eye surgeon at Will Vision & Laser Centers will discuss your visual needs and expectations. They’ll consider your lifestyle, occupation, hobbies and interests. This information, along with your eye exam results, helps determine the best vision goals for your ICL procedure.
Comprehensive Eye Exam for Optimal Results: A thorough eye examination is essential before your ICL procedure to determine if you’re a good candidate. This exam helps define the correct parameters for implanting the lens and ensures that an ICL is the right choice for you. This personalized planning is also crucial for tailoring the lens to your unique vision needs.
Advanced Diagnostic Testing: In addition to standard vision tests, a slit lamp examination, and dilation, we use advanced technology for precise measurements. This includes anterior segment tomography, wavefront aberrometry, axial length measurement, and optical coherence tomography (OCT) of the anterior segment and retina.
Aftercare and Recovery
Instant Vision: Immediately following surgery, your vision will be clear with only a few imperfections in focusing. In point of fact, it is very common for you to be able to see the world with 20/20 acuity within minutes or hours of your EVO ICL™ procedure.
We will provide comprehensive aftercare to ensure your eyes remain healthy and your vision stays clear. The primary check postoperatively is to assess the internal pressure of the eye, as the collagen based matrix used within the eye during EVO ICL™ insertion can occasionally cause the eye pressure to increase. If present, this is typically treated with a one-time simple oral medication. Most patients achieve their ideal intraocular pressure and visual acuity within a day or so after surgery.
We also want to make sure that the lens is the appropriate size for your eye. This can also be determined within a few days of your procedure. Very rarely, the implanted EVO ICL™ is either too large or too small for your eye. If this rare circumstance occurs, it is corrected by removal and replacement of the implanted EVO ICL™ with either a larger or smaller lens.
Frequently Asked Questions
EVO ICL™ provides an unparalleled, long-term solution for vision correction. It is designed to remain in place indefinitely, but unlike virtually all other vision correction procedures, it can be removed and the eye focus returned to its preoperative state if desired. Moreover, if for some reason your vision was to change significantly years after implantation, the EVO ICL™ can be easily exchanged for a different power implant if necessary.
The safety profile of EVO ICL is well-established, with over 1,000,000 procedures performed worldwide, demonstrating very high satisfaction and exceptionally low complication rates.
In addition to its high safety profile, the EVO ICL™ provides patients with high definition vision both day and night without the hassles of contact lenses. From a safety perspective, it is completely reversible if one’s vision needs change in the future. It is ideal for patient with pre-existing dry eye demonstrating significantly less postoperative dry eye than Lasik.
EVO ICL™ is also the ideal solution for patients with thin corneas or those patients whose corneal shape or structure makes the risk of Lasik or PRK unacceptable. More than this, irrespective of one’s preoperative corneal thickness or shape, the EVO ICL™ does not thin or weaken the cornea making it the safest vision correction procedure available, even in normal eyes.
The fact that EVO ICL™ does not thin the cornea also makes this procedure the ideal for high degrees of nearsightedness or astigmatism where corneal thinning and weaking in Lasik or PRK is maximized.
Contact Us
Make the Call or Contact Us Online Today: Are you ready to experience your world with clarity and precision without the hassle of glasses, contact lenses or readers? Our knowledgeable patient counselor team is ready to answer your questions and schedule that first step – a complimentary personal consultation to find out if the EVO ICL™ is right for you. This consultation directly with Dr. Will is designed to provide the one-on-one personal attention necessary to determine your suitability for this procedure and give you the information to launch your personal path to freedom from glasses, contact lenses and readers.