Tonja was seen by an optometrist in Charlotte, North Carolina and she was found to have Keratoconus. She has undergone a corneal transplant in each eye and reported having decreased vision in both eyes. Tonja was referred to Dr. Barbara Marcussen at Complete Eye Care because she specialized in fitting contact lenses for people who have had eye surgery such as corneal transplants or patients who have Keratoconus.
Tonja was examined by Dr. Marcussen and was found to have irregular astigmatism. This type of astigmatism cannot be corrected with glasses. People who have undergone any type of corneal surgery such as Radial Keratotomy, or R. K., or corneal transplants also have decreased vision with glasses due to irregular astigmatism.
The best solution for people with Keratoconus or previous corneal surgery is a rigid contact lens. Rigid contact lenses are able to correct for all of the irregular astigmatism caused by corneal surgery.
Scleral contact lenses are one type of these rigid lenses that are an excellent solution for anyone who has undergone any type of corneal surgery or who has Keratoconus.
They do not touch the cornea at all so they are extremely comfortable. They can be worn all day without discomfort. They provide exceptional vision due to their ability to correct for irregular astigmatism. Since they vault over the cornea, scleral contact lenses are the safest option for people who have undergone corneal transplant surgery.
Tonja was fit in scleral contacts and her vision went from 20/60 with her glasses to 20/25+ with scleral contacts. She reported clear, comfortable vision all day.
Tonja drove 3 ½ hours one way to be fit in these scleral contacts because there was not any doctor who specialized in scleral contact lenses closer to her. Tonja says the drive was worth it to have clear, sharp, comfortable vision all day!
* Saturdays - we are open, by appointment only.