EVO ICL Surgery in Korea: 6 Steps, and Where Each One Can Stop the Plan

Step 1: booking around the clinic's closed days

There are six: booking, the measurement exam, lens sizing and consultation, surgery day, the first checks, and care once you're home. The step that can stop everything is the second. Under its US approval, the EVO lens needs an anterior chamber depth of 3.00 mm or more, and only a scan of your eye can show what yours is.

Hello, I'm Dr. Kim Sang-Myung, an ophthalmologist on the vision correction team at Sky Eye Clinic in Seoul and a full member of the Korean Ophthalmological Society.

If the scan says no, I'll tell you no, because serious visual side effects, though rare, have followed surgery that went ahead against an exam result. ICL is the option here for eyes where removing corneal tissue is the wrong trade: high myopia, thin corneas, dry eyes. The clinic implants EVO and EVO+ lenses, its measuring devices include a Pentacam, a Corvis ST and a Cirrus OCT 6000, and its equipment is checked daily under a complication prevention program. Each operating surgeon is named on the clinic's site.

If you have a recent scan, or a prescription around minus 8 or beyond, send a photo of it on WhatsApp with the days you could spend in Seoul, and ask whether ICL fits numbers like yours.

Every exam, surgery and consultation is by appointment, and same-day booking isn't available. Thursday is closed for equipment inspection, Sundays and holidays are closed, and Saturday (10:00 to 14:30) is for exams and surgeries only, with no follow-up consultations.

The clinic is at 723-26 Banpo-dong, Seocho-gu, about five minutes on foot from Nonhyeon Station (Line 7 Exit 5 or Sinbundang Line Exit 4) or Sinnonhyeon Station (Line 9 Exit 2). A medical interpreter for your language is provided at no extra charge, and interpreters on site speak English, Japanese and Chinese.

Contact lenses change the shape of the corneal surface slightly, so ask how many days before the exam to stop wearing yours. The deposit and payment method are settled after the consultation, so keep those questions for the same WhatsApp thread once you know whether ICL is on the table.

Step 2: which measurement can rule ICL out?

The clinic's exam sequence includes auto-refraction for myopia, astigmatism and corneal curvature, and an eye pressure test, where 10 to 20 mmHg is normal and a higher reading leads to a detailed glaucoma exam. That pressure reading matters twice for ICL, because the FDA lists a rise in eye pressure among the risks of phakic lens surgery. The sequence also includes a corneal topography map, fundus photographs of the retina and optic nerve, and further precision tests.

For an implantable lens, the numbers that decide it are these. Anterior chamber depth, measured from the inner surface of the cornea to the front of your own lens, must be 3.00 mm or more under the EVO lens's US approval. The cells lining the inside of the cornea pump fluid out of it and don't regenerate, according to the FDA, so a low cell count is a reason not to place a lens near them.

The US approval also covers ages 21 to 45 and myopia from minus 3 to minus 20, with a toric version for astigmatism from 1.0 to 4.0 diopters.

A shallow chamber is the one result I won't argue with. Every other number can be weighed against another option, but chamber depth decides whether there's physically room for the lens.

Risks and side effects to know

Say you're 26, minus 10 in both eyes, and a clinic at home told you your corneas were too thin for laser. ICL is the obvious next question. If your chamber measures 2.8 mm, the conversation shifts: I'd go back to whether a surface laser like LASEK can work with your thickness and correction, and the earlier post on how corneal thickness decides between LASIK and LASEK explains that side. LASEK has its own cost in comfort, with several sore days and a small risk of corneal haze.

If neither fits, staying in glasses or contacts for now is the right answer.

Step 3: how is the lens size chosen?

In short, this is the last point where saying no costs you nothing but time.

The lens is sized from measurements of the inside of your eye. Its fit decides how far it arches over your natural lens. A lens that sits too high can crowd the drainage angle and push pressure up; one that sits too low comes close to the natural lens and raises the chance of a cataract. The FDA notes that a phakic lens may need to be repositioned, replaced or removed, including when its power turns out wrong.

The clinic implants both EVO and EVO+, and the ICL lens implant page covers who the procedure is aimed at.

Three questions to ask at this step: which lens model and size were chosen, what prescription is predicted to remain afterward, and whether both eyes will be done on the same day or on different days.

Step 4: what happens on surgery day?

You're prepared, the area is cleansed and sterilized, and surgery begins. It takes about 15 minutes, though the time changes with the method.

Afterward you rest in the recovery room with your eyes closed. The doctor then examines your eyes and explains how the surgery went, and before you go home you're given aftercare instructions and talk through the follow-up appointments. Vision is often foggy for the first hours, so bring sunglasses and plan a taxi back to your hotel.

Step 5: the first checks, and why the weekday matters

Eye pressure can rise in the hours and days after ICL, which is why most surgeons want to see the eye again soon after surgery. The clinic's calendar shapes when that can happen.

Say you land on a Sunday evening and fly out the following Sunday. Push surgery to Friday and your first follow-up visit lands after your flight.

Step 6: what can go wrong after you fly home?

Of all the Korea EVO ICL procedure steps in order, this is the longest, because it lasts as long as the lens is in your eye. The FDA's list of phakic lens risks is long, and it's worth reading in full before you book:

• Glare, halos, double vision or poor vision in low light, which can make night driving hard
• A rise in eye pressure that may need medication or surgery
• Faster loss of the cells lining the cornea, which in severe cases clouds the cornea
• Cataract, which would mean removing both the natural lens and the implant
• Retinal detachment, a risk that rises after any surgery inside the eye
• Under- or over-correction, with glasses still needed for some tasks
• Infection, bleeding or severe inflammation, which are rare

Who should skip ICL or wait: anyone with a shallow chamber or a low corneal cell count, a prescription still changing, a history of uveitis or glaucoma, or a pregnancy under way, since hormone changes can shift the prescription. How any one eye responds varies, which is exactly why the checks continue at home.

Once you're home, plan on seeing an eye doctor at least once a year for pressure, the corneal cell count and the lens position. Eye pain with a headache or nausea, halos with a red eye, a sudden drop in vision, or flashes and a curtain across your sight all mean seeing an eye doctor that day. Carry your lens record: model, size, power and the date of surgery.

If you have an older scan from home with a chamber depth or a corneal cell count printed on it, photograph that page next.

Before you book flights

Send the prescriptions from your last two pairs of glasses, which show whether your eyes have settled, together with the week you're considering. Ask whether your eyes justify a trip for ICL at all. At your exam, the first number I'll check is your chamber depth, because if it's under 3.00 mm, the plan changes before it starts.

Results vary by individual.

Sources

• Phakic Intraocular Lenses: What are the risks?
• FDA approves STAAR Surgical's EVO Visian ICL for myopia (2022)