Scleral Lenses
There’s a term used in the optometric industry called hard to fit patients. In short, these patients often have a unique eye condition or eye disease that causes their vision to stay uncorrected from prescription eyeglasses or regular soft contact lenses.
Hard to fit patients may struggle with light sensitivity preventing them from driving safely (or at all) at night. Their vision can start to blur when trying to focus, and, in some cases, wearing soft contact lenses can lead to irritation, redness, and damage to the cornea.
Who is considered a hard-to-fit patient?
Here are some conditions or eye diseases that commonly cause patients to need specialty contact lenses:
- Keratoconus
- Giant papillary conjunctivitis (GPC)
- Complications Post-refractive surgery (i.e. LASIK, PRK, RK)
- Post Corneal Transplant
- Sjogren’s Syndrome
- High Astigmatism
We Help All Patients Achieve Clear Vision
At Regional Eye Center, we’re able to fit patients in specialized contact lenses that not only corrects their vision but safeguards the cornea from other symptoms as well.
Scleral contact lenses are an extra-large type of rigid gas permeable lenses. Unlike traditional contacts, scleral lenses vault over the entire cornea, leaving a gap between the lens and the corneal surface. They rest on the white part of your eye (your sclera).
Why don’t optometrists fit their patients in scleral lenses?
For the vast majority of patients who want to wear contact lenses, they can easily choose among popular brands what contact lens modality or schedule (daily, biweekly, or monthly).
However, when patients have a rare condition, it’s often not easy to find an optometrist who can help them get fitted into a specialist contact lens.
Why would a patient not be told about their condition sooner?
Eye conditions and eye diseases can have various levels of severity, so, in their early stages, visual problems can go unnoticed. A patient with mild keratoconus may end up ignoring the visual distortion when wearing eyeglasses or contact lenses simply because it’s not affecting their day-to-day activities.
Plus, when they start to notice their symptoms, their eye doctor could recommend a certain prescription or standard rigid gas permeable lens to help correct most of their visual problems. Only in rare cases could a patient end up visiting an eye doctor who claims there is no solution for their problem.
What Are The Advantages Of Wearing Scleral Lenses?
With scleral lenses, you’ll experience consistently clear vision—even if you have an irregular cornea. Here are some of the benefits provided by scleral lenses:
- Large diameter lenses stay centered on your eye and won’t pop out easily.
- High-quality materials mean they’ll last for the long haul.
- Large lenses block debris, dust, and other allergens.
- Breathable material ensures oxygen reaches the eye.
- Lenses create a pocket with moisturizing tears, for comfortable, healthy eyes.
Ready to say goodbye to all those contact lenses that felt uncomfortable and didn’t give you sharp vision? Call us for more info.
Vision Correction is What We Do.
Scleral lenses and other forms of gas-permeable lenses
We encourage our patients to know that their vision ought to conform to their standard of living. Whatever visual problem you experience, we want you to share every detail with us because we do whatever it takes to help our patients.
We make every effort to equip our office with the latest technology, standards, and professional training so that our entire team will help patients achieve the clear, comfortable vision.
Learn More About Scleral Lenses
