When was ICL surgery invented?

When it comes to correcting vision problems such as shortsightedness, longsightedness and astigmatism, there is no doubt that eye surgery has revolutionised the field. Among the different types of eye surgery, implantable contact lenses, or ICL, is a procedure that has been gaining popularity in recent years. However, have you ever wondered when ICL surgery was invented and where it all started? In this blog post, we will briefly examine ICL surgery and its evolution to become the innovative eye surgery we know today.

What is ICL surgery?

ICL surgery, or phakic IOL implantation, is a procedure where a synthetic lens is placed inside the eye to correct refractive errors. This serves as a permanent contact lens to improve vision. Although ICL surgery is now a common procedure conducted in many countries worldwide, it was not introduced until the late 1990s.

Early development of ICL surgery?

The development of ICL surgery started with the intraocular lens (IOL) implantation techniques, which were first introduced in the 1940s¹https://theophthalmologist.com/subspecialties/a-brief-history-of-iol-materials. IOLs were originally designed to replace the natural lens of the eye in patients with cataracts, a condition that creates cloudiness in the lens and impairs vision. The implantation of artificial lenses was a significant advancement in the field of ophthalmology, but it was not until the 1980s that phakic IOLs were introduced for correcting refractive errors²https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3885970/.

An early version of phakic IOLs was the anterior chamber angle-supported lens, implanted in the eye’s anterior chamber. However, this technique was found to be associated with complications such as glaucoma and lens dislocation. Then, the implantation of posterior chamber phakic IOLs³https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3874524/ was introduced as a safer and more effective alternative. The first posterior chamber phakic IOL, the Staar Collamer implant, received FDA approval in 1998⁴https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9610441/, marking a significant milestone in the development of ICL surgery.

The development of posterior chamber phakic IOLs has allowed more people to undergo safe and effective surgery to correct vision problems. Book a free assessment with us to find out more about ICL surgery.