diff --git a/src/hnswutils.c b/src/hnswutils.c
index 8e6f2a9..76051b2 100644
--- a/src/hnswutils.c
+++ b/src/hnswutils.c
@@ -645,11 +645,10 @@ HnswSearchLayer(Datum q, List *ep, int ef, int lc, Relation index, FmgrInfo *pro
 					 */
 					if (skipElement == NULL || list_length(e->element->heaptids) != 0)
 					{
-						wlen++;
-
-						/* No need to decrement wlen */
-						if (wlen > ef)
+						if (wlen >= ef)
 							pairingheap_remove_first(W);
+						else
+							wlen++;
 					}
 				}
 			}