Question
To answer the question on whether you can wear contact lens after ICL removal, the answer in a word is yes.
With regards to risks of removing an ICL, as with all types of eye surgery, there are risks of infection, bleeding, damage to the natural lens or other surrounding structures of the eye.
Though serious complications are possible, the chance of these occurring are fortunately relatively uncommon.
Removal of an ICL is usually not a high risk procedure, although as with every surgery, a certain level of risk does exist like infection, inflammation and slight operative damage to surrounding structures and tissues.
However, one thing for certain is that after removal your refractive power will be back to square one. Contact lens can be worn, but you should wait for at least a month to three months before wearing contact lenses again.
You may want to have your eye discomfort checked properly first because there may be other solutions apart from ICL removal. Hope this helps.
Cheerio
Dr Han
Hi Kossay
The risks of removing an ICL include the usual risks of any surgery such as infection and inflammation, as well as small risks of damage to the cornea and crystalline lens of your eye. Of course, as Dr Han points out, your refractive error (spectacle power) will return after ICL removal and you will need to wear glasses or contact lenses again. Contact lenses may be worn about a month after the ICL is removed.
Just taking a step back, you may want to relook the cause of your eye discomfort.
There are many causes of eye discomfort and if it turns out that the ICL was not the cause, then you may have removed the ICL unnecessarily and still have the eye discomfort afterwards.
ICL lenses may be removed in an intra-ocular procedure that is very similar to the original ICL procedure (except performed in reverse). It may even be performed slightly faster!
The same risks of infection or intraocular bleeding are still present, however the other risks of angle-closure glaucoma, cataract formation, or inflammation as a result of the lens are no longer present.
ESG
The removal of an ICL lens implant is usually easier and faster than the ICL lens implantation procedure. The serious risk involved is of intra-ocular infection which can occur in 1 in 1,000 cases.
But yes, you will be able to wear your contact lenses after around 2 - 3 months after the ICL lens removal. In the meantime, you can wear your glasses.
Hope that helps!
Yes you are right that meibomian gland disease (MGD) is a major cause of dry eyes. If you do have a combination of MGD and dry eyes, there are many ways to treat them! However, since you mentioned that your eyes are neither dry nor painful without contact lens use, I suspect you may have another condition known as Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis (GPC). It is very common for chronic contact lens over-wearers to develop GPC. It is your body’s response or ‘rejection’ to the chronic use of contact lenses, which is regarded as a ‘foreign’ material to your eye.
There is a cumulative therapeutic dose in the range of 120mg – 140mg/kg that some doctors adhere to in the bid to reduce the relapse of acne. Sometimes, doctors may prescribe lower doses (with lower side effects) until the acne has cleared and continue the course for a few more months after. It really depends on the prescribing doctor as each has his/her own protocol. If you find that you are still having relapses with lower doses then discuss with your doctor the option of a course to achieve the therapeutic accumulative dose.
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