Booking ICL surgery abroad: the extra steps a lens implant adds

First, what you are actually booking

An implantable collamer lens, usually shortened to ICL, is one kind of phakic intraocular lens: a thin artificial lens placed inside the eye while your own natural lens stays where it is. It does not reshape the cornea at all. Surgeons tend to raise it with patients whose prescription is outside what they are comfortable treating with a laser, or whose corneas are not suited to removing tissue. Whether you are one of those patients is a decision for the ophthalmologist, based on measurements taken in the clinic.

For booking purposes, the key idea is simple. LASIK is a surface procedure with a short, predictable first week. A phakic lens is intraocular surgery. That brings three extra things into your plan: a preparatory step before the operation, a longer healing window afterwards, and monitoring that continues long after you are home.

The appointments, in order

The FDA describes the iridotomy as taking place roughly one to two weeks before the implant (FDA). That single fact does more to change your trip than anything else on the list. It means the "fly in, exam, operate, fly out" pattern that works for many LASIK patients usually does not apply, unless the clinic's lens and technique do not require it or the step can be done near home first.

Three ways to shape the trip

Option A: one long stay

You arrive, have the exam and iridotomy early, wait out the gap in the city, have the implant, and stay for the early post-op period. It is the simplest arrangement for the clinic and the most continuous for you. It is also the longest, and the most expensive in accommodation and leave.

Option B: two shorter trips

A first visit covers the exam and, if needed, the iridotomy. You go home, then return for surgery. This suits people who live within a reasonable flight of Colombia and have limited consecutive days off. The cost is a second round-trip ticket and a second set of travel days.

Option C: preparation at home

Some patients have the detailed measurements, or even the iridotomy, done by an ophthalmologist at home and send the results ahead. Whether this works depends entirely on the operating surgeon, who may want their own equipment and their own hands on these steps. Ask the clinic directly, and do not book flights on the assumption that they will accept outside results.

Candidacy questions to settle before you buy anything

Because the measurements are more involved, it pays to get the obvious screening questions out of the way at inquiry. The FDA lists several situations in which a person is probably not a good candidate for a phakic lens (FDA, 2018), including:

• Being under 21, the age below which no phakic lens is FDA-approved.
• A glasses or contact prescription that has changed in the last six to twelve months.
• A shallow front chamber of the eye, or a low or abnormal endothelial cell count for your age.
• Only one eye with useful vision.
• A history of uveitis, or problems at the back of the eye such as retinal detachment risk.
• Conditions or medicines that slow healing, and high-risk contact sports.

You cannot measure your own anterior chamber at home, but you can tell the clinic about your history, your prescription changes over the past year, and any previous eye problems. That information belongs in your first message; our guide to what to send with your inquiry lists the documents that help.

After surgery: what the restrictions mean for travel days

The FDA's list of post-implant precautions is longer than the LASIK version. It includes not rubbing the eyes, keeping water out of them until cleared, avoiding bending from the waist and heavy lifting, avoiding strenuous activity until the surgeon clears you, and not driving until told it is safe (FDA).

Read that list with an airport in mind:

• Lifting: hoisting a suitcase into an overhead bin or off a baggage belt is exactly the movement to avoid. Pack light, check your bag, and pay for help or bring a companion who can carry it.
• Bending: sliding a bag under the seat in front means bending forward. Keep what you need in a small bag on your lap or seat-back pocket.
• Water: plan how you will wash your face and hair in the hotel without splashing the eye.
• Timing: ask the surgeon when they are comfortable with you flying. Neither the FDA nor the NHS publishes a single answer, and it varies by patient.

Long-term care: book it before you go

This is the part most specific to lens implants. The FDA describes follow-up as lifelong, with regular endothelial cell counts to track cell loss, a count before any later surgery inside the eye such as cataract surgery, and annual eye examinations. It also lists flashes, floaters or blank areas in vision as reasons to seek care straight away, because they can signal retinal detachment (FDA).

That means your home eye doctor is not optional. Before you book surgery abroad, find an ophthalmologist at home who is willing to see a patient with a phakic lens and who has the equipment to count endothelial cells. Ask the Colombian clinic to provide the lens model, power, size and your pre-op measurements in writing, ideally in English, so your home doctor starts with full records. Our piece on setting up follow-up care at home covers the general process; for an implant, the bar is higher because the checks continue indefinitely.

Who should come with you

A companion is helpful on any refractive trip. For a lens implant, think of one as close to essential. The FDA describes a day-of-surgery routine that includes fasting from midnight, possible sedation, a patch or shield afterwards, and no driving (FDA). Add the lifting and bending limits, and the person with you becomes the one who carries the bags, reads the drop labels and gets you to the next-day check on time.

If you are travelling alone, tell the clinic early. Some coordinators can help arrange transport between hotel and clinic, but it is better to know what is available before you book than to discover the gaps after surgery.

What to ask the clinic before you pay a deposit

The NHS confirms that both eyes are usually treated on the same day in laser surgery, but for some lens surgery they are done on separate days (NHS, reviewed 2024). If your clinic works that way, each eye brings its own next-day check, so the gap between the two operations sits squarely inside your trip.

The quote should reflect all of this. If the price covers "ICL" but says nothing about the iridotomy, the lens itself, or the post-op visits, ask for each to be listed; reading a Colombian quote explains what an itemised version looks like.