Scleral Lenses are a Great Alternative to Uncomfortable RGP Contact Lenses: Robert’s Story

Robert is a 46-year-old who lives in Gastonia, North Carolina. He has keratoconus and had undergone a corneal transplant in his left eye many years ago. He also had a scar on his right cornea from keratoconus. Robert had 20/70 vision best corrected with his glasses. He needed to see clearer to work so he was fit into a small, hard, gas permeable contact lens prior to being seen at our office.

Robert researched solutions to Keratoconus and what options he had after corneal transplant surgery.  He came to Complete Eye Care in Belmont, North Carolina to see if he could improve his vision greater than the 20/70 he came in seeing with his glasses.

Dr. Barbara Marcussen fit Robert in a scleral contact lens in his right eye due to his keratoconus. Robert was thrilled with how much more comfortable the scleral lens was to wear instead of the small hard gas permeable lens he was wearing prior to being fit with the scleral lens. One of the reasons scleral lenses are so comfortable is because they vault over the cornea and land on the sclera, which is the non-sensitive part of the eye. The result is super comfortable contact lenses. Dr. Barbara Marcussen is a certified WAVE designer so she designed Robert’s lens to the exact measurements of his eye. She took a corneal topography map of 11,000 points on Robert’s cornea and she individually designed the scleral lens to fit perfectly for his exact eye shape. Dr. Barbara Marcussen was also able to fit his left eye with a scleral lens even after his corneal transplant. Since Robert had undergone a corneal transplant, it was imperative that the lens fit perfectly and did not touch down on the cornea. The precise measurements were taken and an individually designed lens was designed to match the contour of his eye even though he had a transplanted cornea.

The result is that Robert now sees clearly all day and has very comfortable vison. He reports he cannot even feel the lenses on his eyes even though he works very long hours and has to leave the lenses in for many hours at a time.  He also said the scleral lenses are so much more comfortable and do not dry out like his old gas permeable lenses did. Robert is very happy with his excellent vison and comfort and is now seeing better than he has ever seen before!