Hello, I decided to register as a member here as I realised there isn't much information about ICL here and would like to share some of my experience.
I have always had terrible eyesight since young (started wearing glasses at K1) and my eyesight would deteriorate at an alarming rate of about -1.00 every year. By the time my eyesight stabilized, I was about -10.00 for both eyes with astig of around -2.00 each. My spectacle lens are so thick that it affected my confidence. My parents would not let me get contact lens so I had to seek an optician secretly and paid for them myself when I was 16. Bioinfinity Toric by coopervision is a really good brand by the way, if you experience dry eyes after wearing contact lenses for a few hours, it really saved my life after switching over from Biomedic Toric.
About 2 years ago, I went to
Shinagawa Eye Centre to do a pre-lasik assessment and consulted Dr Lee. I was told that as my degree is too high, and most of the cornea would have to be shaved away if I were to do lasik, and that would leave me with a cornea that is too thin and weak. Dr Lee recommended me to do ICL but Shinagawa did not provide that service. I looked up the price of ICL and decided it was too costly.
Just two days ago, I went to do another pre-lasik assessment at
SNEC as it was stated on their website that the ICL surgery fee is S$6,131.10 to S$6,837.30 (I think it's for one eye). I went through all the various tests, eye pressure test, cornea measurements etc (it took about 2 hours for the tests) and consulted Senior Consultant Dr Rosman. He told me that ICL is more suitable for me than LASIK too but he told me that the distance between my cornea to the lens in my eye just fell short of about 0.13mm from the recommended distance (3.00 mm). The minimum distance required for ICL is 2.8 mm and mine was 2.87 mm. He told me there is a risk of cataract etc and didn't seem very confident of doing the surgery for me.
I told the Dr I would think about it and asked for the full results report but was only given the refraction report (just measurement of my eye power with and without the cycloplegic eye drops). Also, I was quoted an estimate of
S$14,059.80 to S$15,172.60 of surgery fee for ICL for BOTH eyes. The total consultation fee at SNEC was more expensive than I thought too - $299 for a senior consultant. I decided to look for another specialist for a second opinion and immediately made an appointment at Eagle Eye the following day.
I chose Dr Val Phua, a consultant, but specializes in ICL. He was previously from SNEC too. I still had to go through all the pre-lasik assessments even though I showed them the report from SNEC. It was really crowded at the clinic at King Albert Park and the wait was really long. I went there at 1pm and left at 5pm. When I met Dr Val Phua, he asked about my concerns and he said the distance between my cornea to lens is about 3.10 mm and said I was suitable for ICL, although he did mention my cornea is slightly irregular shaped. He showed my the surgery fees which was about $8.5k for BOTH eyes(not incl other assessments post surgery) and I was thinking this should be the right amount that I read in the forums!
I was appalled as to why SNEC had higher rates than a private clinic.. and it's a significantly higher rate (almost 2 times!) Is it because SNEC specialises more on medical conditions pertaining to the eye and not that much on cosmetic surgeries?
Anyway, I felt like Dr Val Phua was more confident and reassured me that the side effects like cataract only happens to very few people and I am going ahead for the surgery! Will update my recovery process when the surgery is completed
I just tell myself to be patient and not be too obsessive with checking my vision all the time.
