I basically grew up wearing glasses, quite thick ones, because I’ve been highly myopic since birth and I’ve always wanted to live a glasses-free life. So ICL surgery was the best option. The surgery was a little bit unnerving, but at the same time exciting. I had opted for the local anaesthetic option so I was fully awake although my vision was extremely blurred. But the calming music in the operating theatre definitely helped a lot. The care I received was excellent. The whole team made me feel very relaxed. I felt like the recovery could be broken down into kind of two phases. There was a daytime phase that had a very quick recovery and a nighttime phase, which was a little bit slower. So a few days after the surgery, my daytime vision was superb. I was able to see without any visual aid at all. The ICL surgery has definitely changed quite a bit about my daily lifestyle and activities. I can exercise without any worry about glasses falling off. I can play contact sports, even just cricket without worrying about would I be able to make it back home if I break my glasses. I would highly recommend Mr Ayoub and Oculase for anyone considering any corrective surgery or anything to do with your eyes. I feel Mr Ayoub is extremely professional and so is the team. They’re very empathetic, very caring. They look after you extremely well.

Implantable contact lenses, as the name suggests, is a specially designed lens that sits inside your eye to correct very high prescriptions. It is a very soft synthetic lens that sits behind your iris, which is the coloured bit of your eye, but on top of your natural crystalline lens. As it is inside the eye, it is not visible to anyone around you, and you do not have to take it out and remove it and replace it as you would for a standard contact lens. Those who are not suitable for laser eye surgery would be suitable for implantable contact lenses.

Anyone who has a prescription, whether that’d be myopia or hyperopia or astigmatism, is suitable for implantable contact lens surgery. In general, however, we reserve implantable contact lens surgery for anyone who was not suitable for laser eye surgery. Usually, people who are not suitable for eye surgery have very thin corneas or extremely high prescription, and therefore implantable contact lens surgery would be a better option for them. Additionally, in some people who have had corneal transplants previously, or have stable keratoconus, an implantable contact lens may be a more suitable option.

Implantable contact lens surgery is painless as I use lots of anaesthetic drops to completely numb your eye. In some people I would consider also giving you a block of anaesthetic to freeze your eyes, so you feel no pain. In very rare cases, we can use sedation or general anaesthesia for the surgery, but this usually is not required. The surgery itself is very safe, and very quick, and pain is not usually an issue.

Implantable contact lens surgery is generally a safe procedure with over 1 million of these implanted worldwide. However, there are some important side effects or risks that you need to be aware of. Immediately after the surgery your eyes are going to be sore and red and gritty and you might notice that your vision is slightly blurred. This is normal and resolves over a period of a few days to a couple of weeks with the drops that you will be prescribed. Sometimes after the surgery your pressure may be raised. If this is the case they will give you some drops or tablets to reduce the pressure in your eye. Another important risk of ICL surgery is the issue with sizing of the contact lens. We take several measurements of your eye to predict the exact size of the lens that needs to be implanted in your eye. Usually this lens implant is bespoke to your eye. However, sometimes the lens may not sit snugly in your eye and may rotate or move from its position. In these situations we may have to do a second surgery to reposition the lens, replace it, or remove it. A finally important risk is that one can develop a severe infection which could adversely affect your vision. However, we are able to treat this with antibiotics in most cases.