Implantable Collamer Lens
The Staar Visian ICL presents a new way for patients who struggle with up to –15D myopia to forego the nuisance of contact lenses and clumsy glasses and attain excellent vision.
The Visian ICL™ is made to strict specifications from Collamer. Collamer is a proprietary, highly biocompatible material derived from pure collagen and a hydrophilic copolymer with a UV absorbing chromophore.
Used for more than 15 years in thousands of procedures in Europe and the United States, the Collamer-based Staar Visian ICL™ has an excellent safety profile.
Who Is a Candidate for the Staar Visian ICL™ Procedure?
The Staar Visian ICL procedure is an excellent choice for patients who are nearsighted (not farsighted) and who have thin and/or irregular corneas. In addition, if you have been denied LASIK surgery because of chronically dry eyes or oversized pupils, Staar Visian ICL may be able to provide the vision correction you desire.
If you have had previous eye surgery, including LASIK, you may be unable to have the Staar Visian ICL procedure. Likewise, those who have had an ophthalmic disease such as glaucoma may not be able to have Staar Visian ICL. The ICL is removable and the procedure is essentially “reversible” unlike LASIK/PRK and other corneal ablative procedures.
The Staar Visian ICL™ surgery is performed by Dr. Baldinger in a sterile operating room, with local anesthesia, on an outpatient basis. The procedure is relatively painless and causes little postoperative discomfort. The Staar Visian ICL™ is a phakic intraocular lens that sits above the natural crystalline lens in each of your eyes. In the Visian ICL™ procedure, Dr Baldinger performs the following steps:
Step 1
About two weeks before performing the Staar Visian ICL procedure, he will perform laser iridotomies in the office on each eye. A tiny hole is made by a laser in the iris to allow fluid to move between the front chamber of the eye and the Visian ICL.
Step 2
Prior to performing the Staar Visian ICL surgery, Dr Baldinger will numb each of your eyes with eyedrops. No other anesthesia is necessary. Some intravenous sedation will be give during the procedure to allow you to feel calm and relaxed during the procedure. Then the actual surgery proceeds. Your surgeon will make three microscopic incisions, one central and two side port, where the iris (the colored part) meets the white part of the eye.
Step 3
Next, a gel-like substance is injected into the eye. Your surgeon then injects the Staar Visian ICL into the central incision so that it sits on the eye’s natural crystalline lens.
Step 4
After it is placed in the eye, the Staar Visian ICL gently unfolds, and Dr. Baldinger aligns it perfectly over the crystalline lens. The surgery is now complete! Because the incisions are so small, they heal quickly. There is usually no need for stitches of any kind.
Dr. Baldinger was the first eye surgeon in the Washington DC area to perform the ICL surgery “offshore” in Tijuana Mexico back in 2000, years before it was even FDA approved. He was chosen by Staar Surgical, the manufacturer of the lens, along with a very small select group of US-based surgeons to receive this early training because he was extremely impressed with the results doctors were having with this lens outside the United States. In 2006, Dr, Baldinger became the first eye surgeon in the Washington DC area to implant the ICL.