EnVision Summit 2023: ICL and clear lens exchange: Choosing the right approach

Eva Kim, MD, discusses Implantable Collamer Lens (ICL) surgery and the impact the choice of lens can have on patients from her presentation at the EnVision Summit Ophthalmology 2023 conference with David Hutton, Managing Editor, Ophthalmology Times®.

Video transcript

Editor’s note: This transcript has been edited for clarity.

David Hutton:

Hello, I'm David Hutton of Ophthalmology Times. I'm joined today by Dr. Eva Kim, who presented ICL and Clear Lens Exchange: Choosing the Right Approach at the EnVision Summit in Puerto Rico. Thank you so much for joining us today. Dr. Kim, we really appreciate it. Tell us about your presentation.

Eva Kim, MD:

Yes, I'm just very excited about the trend towards refractive surgery at the level of the lens. So everybody's very familiar with corneal refractive surgery, LASIK, PRK, and SMILE. But I feel like when we work at the level of the lens, really the summary is that it encompasses a larger age group. So our ICL patients are nearsighted, myopic, at least about a -3 and all the way up to about a -17, and they tend to be younger.

Once they are corrected with their ICL, they can see in the distance, and they're young, so they can see up close. But then there comes a time in life when we lose our natural ability to see up close or accommodate and maybe mid to late 40s, early 50s this is happening. So corneal refractive surgery, and in fact even ICL surgery, becomes less of a good choice for them, because they'll be able to see for instance, if they're myopic, better. But up close, they're still having trouble and needing to wear reading glasses. So clear lens exchange with our amazing technologies, we're able to offer multiple distance vision for these patients who have already lost their ability to see up close. And so someone who loves to do cataract surgery, like myself and others through the nation, can get excited about entering this realm of refractive surgery for patients who are presbyopic.

David Hutton:

Ultimately, what can this mean for the patients?

Eva Kim, MD:

You know, I think it just opens up the ability for patients who are basically out of range for corneal refractive surgery to entertain having spectacle-free vision in the future. And we typically encourage patients who are considering lens-based refractive lens exchange, for instance, we encourage them to wait until they've lost their up-close ability so that we're not already taking away something that they have naturally. And so there's something funny about human nature, if you take something away from a patient, it doesn't feel good. So we will often encourage these refractive lens patients, to lens exchange patients to wait until their up close ability is significantly lost or is a struggle. And then we're able to bring that back with lens technology so that they can see up close again. It's quite a thrill for the patient.