Visian ICL Surgery and Verisyse IOL Surgery in San Diego

As a leading San Diego LASIK eye surgery specialist, Dr. Nahl recognizes not everyone is a candidate for laser eye surgery. This is why she offers implantable contact lenses in San Diego ─ an advanced vision correction technology that allows patients to achieve clear vision without glasses. Dr. Nahl has extensive experience with implantable contact lenses (ICLs), and she has helped numerous San Diego Visian ICL and Verisyse phakic IOLs patients realize their vision correction dreams. Please read on to learn more about Verisyse and Visian implantable contact lenses and how they can help you enhance your vision.

Verisyse™

The Verisyse™ Phakic IOL is used to treat moderate to severe myopia, the medical term for nearsightedness. With over 18 years of use and 150,000 procedures performed worldwide, results prove that the Verisyse™ design is safe and effective for very nearsighted people who are tired of thick glasses and are not candidates for Custom LASIK.

How Verisyse™ works

The procedure involves placing the Verisyse™ Phakic IOL behind your cornea and on top of your iris. This gives your eye another focusing lens that provides high-quality, high-definition vision like a normal eye. Although the Verisyse™ Phakic IOL is intended to be permanent, the procedure is reversible if desired.

The word "phakic" means that your natural crystalline lens is left in the eye. This is important because your natural lens plays an important role in helping your eye adjust between seeing objects that are near and far.

Verisyse™ in San Diego

The talented San Diego Verisyse™ phakic IOLs specialist, Dr. Nahl, performs implantation of Verisyse lenses as an outpatient procedure that takes approximately 15 to 30 minutes. Usually, one eye is treated at a time.

  • Drops will be placed in your eyes in order to reduce the pupil size.
  • For better access to your eye, we will use an instrument to comfortably hold your eyelids open during the procedure.
  • A local anesthetic is given to numb the eye, so the procedure is virtually painless.
  • A small incision is made in the cornea for the Verisyse™ Phakic IOL to be placed in the space between the iris and the cornea.
  • The Verisyse™ Phakic IOL is centered in front of the pupil (the black part in the center of your eye), and is gently attached to the iris (the colored part of your eye) to hold the lens in place.
  • The small incision is closed with microscopic stitches that dissolve over time.
  • A temporary shield will be placed over your eye to protect it during the time just after the procedure.

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what is Visian ICL?

There's a big difference between "visual acuity (20/20 vision is considered normal visual acuity) and "visual quality. Many refractive procedures such as LASIK offer the promise of improved visual acuity but the quality of your vision may vary significantly based on the procedure you choose. The Visian ICL provides vision correction that goes beyond LASIK. It helps you enjoy sharper, clearer, and more vivid vision, with greater depth and dimension. It's called High Definition Visian, and it's available only with the Visian ICL.

STAAR Surgical Company's Visian ICL has a proven track record of providing improved quality of vision. When compared to other refractive surgical procedures, the Visian ICL creates sharper vision. The immediate improvement of vision quality and the remarkably short and painless recovery produces a unique "WOW!" factor in patients.

The High Definition Vision delivered by the Visian ICL makes this proven, technologically advanced vision correction procedure the choice for patients who need and expect high quality results. In fact, the U.S. military has embraced the Visian ICL because of the reliable visual clarity it achieves. The Visian ICL is clearly the choice for San Diego ICL patients with an active lifestyle and those who cannot accept anything less than the highest quality vision.

Advantages

There are many unique advantages of STAAR® Surgical Company's Visian ICL™.

For years, the only method of permanent vision correction that didn't involve glasses or contact lenses was corrective laser eye surgery. With the advent of the Visian ICL, however, that's all changed. Now, you can enjoy "High Definition Visian™ - vision correction that's sharper, clearer, more vivid, and has greater depth and dimension - in a simple, 15-minute outpatient procedure.

High Definition Visian™ - Quality of Vision Excellence - High Definition Visian™

The Visian ICL offers vision correction that's sharper, clearer, more vivid, and has greater depth and dimension than other procedures. The main advantage of the Visian ICL over traditional corrective laser eye surgery is that patients may experience significant improvement in quality of vision after the lens is implanted 1. When compared to the results of corneal refractive surgery, the Visian ICL may produce superior vision quality as evidenced by fewer higher order aberrations 2. Patients experience a nearly immediate visual recovery and "Wow!" results.

Technologically Advanced Lens Material

Unlike other phakic IOLs, the Visian ICL is made from Collamer, a technologically advanced lens material exclusive to STAAR Surgical Company. Because of the collagen base in Collamer, it is biocompatible with the eye and may provide superior optical performance.

Exceptional Patient Experience - Simple, Safe & Invisible Lens

Because the Visian ICL is implanted in the posterior chamber, behind the iris, unlike other phakic IOLs, the lens is invisible to both the patient and any observer. Also, its positioning in the eye maintains normal iris function, promotes stability, and may reduce potential complications. The entire lens insertion procedure can take as little as 15 minutes! 

The "Wow" Factor

After the simple 15-minute outpatient procedure, most of our Visian ICL San Diego patients experience an immediate improvement in vision quality and are "Wowed" by the results. In fact, the quality of vision achieved is many times better than any previous vision correction solution.

Comfort From The Start - Short Recovery Time

The recovery time for the Visian ICL is very quick and comfortable, and may be as little as a day, due to the very small size of the incision required. The incision needed to implant the foldable Visian ICL is tiny and located on the far edge of the cornea, where there is little danger of it interfering with vision. Once the lens is implanted, sutures are typically not needed to close the incision, further simplifying the procedure.

Reduced Risk of Complications

Patients undergoing corneal refractive procedures, such as LASIK and PRK, may be susceptible to side effects associated with corneal surgery including dry eye and thinning of the cornea. The LASIK procedure involves removal of tissue from the cornea, which means some of its complications may be more difficult to correct than the possible complications of the Visian ICL. All surgical procedures carry some risk; however, the side effects or complications related to the Visian ICL, in most cases, can be corrected by us. 

Solution For Life - Removable

One of the most common concerns that people have about corrective laser eye surgery is that the procedure permanently changes the eye, and what will happen if a complication arises. One of the important advantages of the Visian ICL is that while it can permanently correct your vision, in the unlikely event that a San Diego Visian ICL patient experiences negative side effects after surgery, the lens can be removed and/or replaced if necessary. Also, concerns involving the cornea typically do not apply to the Visian ICL, as no natural tissue is removed or changed (reshaped) in any way during implantation.

Unique UV Blocking

Long-term exposure to UV radiation can damage the eyes; and longer term or more intense exposure increases the chance of eye disorders including the development of cataracts and some retinal problems. As an added feature, the Visian ICL advanced lens material contains a UV blocker that actually prevents harmful UVA and UVB rays from entering the eye, possibly preventing the development of UV related eye disorders. 

Patient Preferred Technology - Proven Track Record

Over 15 years of research and development has made the Visian ICL a leader in phakic IOL technology. There have been over 80,000 Visian ICL implants performed worldwide. And when asked about the procedure, over 99% of the patients were highly satisfied. 

Wide Treatment Range

The Visian ICL has proven to be effective in patients within a wide range of refractive errors. In fact, the Visian ICL can correct myopia from as low as -3.0 diopters to -16.0 diopters and reduce myopia from -16.0 diopters up to as high as -20.0 diopters with or without astigmatism. Before now, some of these individuals were not candidates for surgical eye correction. Clinical studies have shown how the Visian ICL is truly a breakthrough myopia treatment in terms of vision correction results. Because implantation of the phakic IOL does not require any structural alteration of the eye, results are predictable and very stable.

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Dr. Angela Nahl is a talented San Diego ICLs, laser eye surgery and cataracts surgeon. In order to provide cataracts patients with the best possible vision correction results, Dr. Nahl usually recommends and performs cataract surgery in conjunction with implantation of premium IOLs. Over the years, she has become renowned as one of the leading San Diego Crystalens, ReStor and ReZoom IOLs specialists. Please visit the respective pages to learn more about these lens implants and how they can help you achieve your vision correction goals.