Scleral Lenses
What is a Scleral Lens?
A scleral lens is a type of contact lens that can provide either vision correction or therapeutic benefits for patients who suffer from ocular surface diseases such as dry eye. It is a large, hard contact that sits on the whites of your eye – the sclera – rather than directly on your cornea. Patients who have trouble with traditional soft or hard lenses are often able to benefit from scleral lenses.
How Do Scleral Lenses Work?
It’s a bit like putting a new “perfect front” on the eye. A regular, soft contact lens lays on the cornea like a sheet on a table, so it takes the same shape as the your eye. When you have unusual corneal anatomy, there can be aspects of your vision that aren’t adequately corrected by traditional lenses. With the newest technology in scleral lenses, we are able to fit even the most unusual eyes with lenses that are healthy, comfortable, and provide excellent vision.
Common Questions About Scleral Lenses
What Types of Conditions Can Scleral Lenses Treat?
- Corneal Scarring
- Corneal Transplant
- Dry Eye Disease
- Irregular Astigmatism
- Keratoconus
- Ocular Surface Disease
- Pellucid Marginal Degeneration
- Post-LASIK Ectasia
Are Scleral Lenses Right for Me?
It’s possible! Scleral contact lenses are an amazing technology available that make lens wear an option for patients with unusual prescriptions or corneal diseases.
I’m Worried I Might Not Be Able to Wear Them Successfully
Our doctors will work with you to make sure you have all the skills necessary to insert and remove your lenses at home before you leave the office! It’s quite rare for someone to be unable to successfully wear their scleral lenses.
How Have Scleral Lenses Changed?
Before the development of highly oxygen-permeable plastics, patients in need of specialty contact lenses had to be fit with smaller, rigid-gas-permeable (RGP) lenses. These lenses offered excellent vision but were notoriously uncomfortable. This is because the smaller lenses were much less stable and moved quite a bit on the eye. Scleral lenses can be intimidating due to their size, but it’s this much larger size that makes the lenses substantially more comfortable. Being made of rigid materials also give them the ability to offer better vision than you may be able to achieve with glasses or traditional contact lenses.