EVO ICL: An Eye Doctor’s Perspective

 

My name is Anna McKinney and I am an optometrist in the Hollywood Park neighborhood of San Antonio. I recently underwent EVO ICL surgery at Parkhurst NuVision and would like to share my experience from an eye doctor’s perspective!

I’d like to start with a quick background on my ocular history. I began wearing glasses in 5th grade and like a lot of children, I quickly progressed with myopia each year, getting stronger glasses until I eventually swapped to contacts. I rarely wore glasses after that because they were heavy and I felt my vision was not as clear. My vision stabilized after optometry school at a power of -6.50 OD and -7.00 OS in contact lenses. For a while I was happy with vision in contacts but once becoming a mother in 2020 and having to wake up multiple times a night, my prescription really started to impact my life. 

I decided to invest in the EVO ICL after speaking with colleagues, specifically colleagues that had the surgery themselves, about their overall experience. Each individual said it was a no-brainer which I can now agree with! My friend Emily summed it up best when she said it’s “the best mom hack!”. It has been amazing to wake up in the morning (or middle of the night 😆) and see what’s happening around me for the first time in 25 years. I also love traveling and it feels great to not have to pack up contacts, glasses, and solution for each overnight trip. As a busy working mom I love to simplify my life whenever possible.

Lastly, I wanted to share a few observations about my post op visits in case any of your patients experience something similar. As you can imagine, vision immediately after surgery was slightly blurred but still way better than my previous uncorrected vision. I went to work the next day, driving myself and feeling very confident with my new vision. I had the added benefit that my office was also where post op care was done! That first morning after surgery, I was 20/20- in the right eye and 20/25+ in the left eye but by lunch my vision had improved to 20/15 once the glare had lessened. My vault has been stable at 147 microns in the right and 253 microns in the left. I did have an elevated IOP reading in my right eye that first day. I treated myself with timolol and my pressure dropped from 38 to 12. I took four doses of timolol over the next three days and then discontinued. Since then, my distance vision has been very stable with only about -0.50 cyl showing up in a refraction. My near vision is occasionally blurred but is slowly improving as my accommodation adjusts to this new change.

Overall the experience was easier than expected for me and the doctors at Parkhurst make a great team. Would recommend 100% to any patient that has a high prescription because it’s truly life changing!