From Cataracts to Clarity: A 35-Year-Old’s Journey to Glasses-Free Vision with EVO ICL
A 35-year-old woman, who has faced a unique journey with her vision since infancy, came to our clinic exploring her refractive options. Born with bilateral congenital cataracts, she underwent strabismus surgery early in life and remained aphakic, relying on both contact lenses and glasses, until she received intraocular lens (IOL) implants at the age of 13. Despite the implants, she continued to wear glasses or contacts to correct her residual refractive error as her eyes matured.
She shared with us that she has moderate amblyopia, more pronounced in her left eye, along with moderate horizontal nystagmus. Given these factors, we considered all options including laser vision correction and ICLs and ultimately recommended EVO ICL.
After spending time researching her options and carefully considering her decision, she returned for a pre-operative ICL evaluation about a year later. During this visit, her best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was 20/30-2 in her right eye with a spherical equivalent of -5.50, and 20/60 in her left eye with a spherical equivalent of -8.75. Upon dilation, her IOLs appeared well-centered with open capsules in both eyes, and anterior ultrasound measurements confirmed there was enough space for the placement of the ICLs.
Given the complexity of her case, we recommended placing the ICLs one eye at a time, rather than performing the procedure on both eyes in a single day.
Overview of patient’s anterior chambers (OD above and OS below) as seen pre-operatively on the Pentacam with IOL visible behind the iris and open angles noted nasal and temporal.
She underwent ICL placement OS first, followed by OD two weeks later. She was 20/40– unaided OD and 20/40– unaided OS at her 1-day post-op appointments with vaults of 100% in each eye.
At her 1- and 3-month post-op visits, her vision had noticeably improved to 20/40+2 unaided in both eyes. She was thrilled with the improvement in her vision and the newfound freedom from glasses. What was particularly remarkable was that her more amblyopic left eye gained an additional line of vision after the ICL implantation, while her right eye’s best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) stayed consistent with her pre-op levels.
Although we can’t guarantee such vision gains for all patients with amblyopia, we do sometimes see this kind of improvement, especially in those with high myopia. By correcting vision closer to the eye’s nodal point, patients often experience clearer refractive outcomes, which can lead to unexpected benefits like this one.
