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I went for a scleral fitting with Ken Pullum and I wanted to write it up as I think that whatever my final outcome I can only recommend people trying these lenses and perhaps knowing about the UK experience may be useful for some. I'm not advertising anyone's services, the optician I chose was my only option for traveling to and also picked on the stories I had heard myself. I just pass on this info in the hope someone thinking of going to see about sclerals may gain some thoughts.
Firstly, I was nervous about going, I have high myopia and dry eyes that’s been explained as blepharitis linked. I have burning, tearing etc (both eyes) and eyelid sensitivity (moreso and quite badly on one eyelid) and I have high light sensitivity. My symptoms go between mild and medium – highly randomly from what I can tell. My immediate problems – other than pain - are that sunglasses are out of the option given that I can not tolerate soft contacts for long and the clip on sunglasses are problematic, with my prescription clip-on sunglasses are hand-made and usually hard to put on the glasses and quite hard to see though! So failure with sclerals puts me back to square one – hence the nerves.
Of course lenses are a cosmetic plus, not being able to tolerate regular lenses for long is a problem but 3 years into having dry eye I have somewhat given up on that requirement and for me sclerals are about being able to wear sunglasses and not have to walk around with my eyes barely open and to have some pain relief on bad days.
One thing I will add here is that like Ken pointed out to me, everyone’s symptoms are part of what makes a success with sclerals. For example, the patient that has to clean them every 20 minutes because of clouding, but has no successful vision without the lenses, will do this cleaning and it will be a success for them in some way. Those that wear heavy glasses and yet can see out of them but can’t tolerate a scleral for whatever reason, have another outcome.
Mr Pullum is quite a legend, he’s extremely well respected in Hertford. I spent two days in his waiting room and the locals know him, wait for him as he scurries around tending to everyone – it becomes obvious he’s very well known. He takes regular patients for eye exams as well as those of us with scleral requests. I saw a lady successfully try a scleral in a painful eye that has been affected by cancer treatment and how wonderful that she walked away with a solution! He’s a fascinating person, I could have talked to him for hours. He is probably the most hard-working person you could meet as well. He’s been known to stay in the office with patients until late at night. I’m not sure how he packs everything into his schedule but his wonderful office staff certainly help.
The fitting starts with a fitting set, then some tries with a second set of lenses to see how you feel. You can then determine if you feel it’s worth continuing. The lenses are not super comfortable to start with, and for some more uncomfortable than others. I was told there was only about a 25% fitting success rate. For me, it was worth it to still try. You get to a point with pain/problems that you can weigh up the things you have to give up for a while to pay for something that may bring a change to your life.
The lenses are (normally) quickly made on site so you can stay a day in town and wait for them or return. I would recommend spending some time there. It’s not for hasty decisions. It’s for some thought and time.
Unfortunately I had some initial clouding problems, I’m trying with different drops instead of saline in them at the moment, we will see if I can build a solution and be able to wear them. The vision correction is quite amazing. I’ve tried a few lens types before and these make me feel like this must be as close to what being able to see without glasses must be like. It’s quite remarkable. For me I can feel them in my eye but the feeling is not altogether unpleasant. It becomes more unpleasant after some hours.
We will see....
hope this helps someone decide one day.
Firstly, I was nervous about going, I have high myopia and dry eyes that’s been explained as blepharitis linked. I have burning, tearing etc (both eyes) and eyelid sensitivity (moreso and quite badly on one eyelid) and I have high light sensitivity. My symptoms go between mild and medium – highly randomly from what I can tell. My immediate problems – other than pain - are that sunglasses are out of the option given that I can not tolerate soft contacts for long and the clip on sunglasses are problematic, with my prescription clip-on sunglasses are hand-made and usually hard to put on the glasses and quite hard to see though! So failure with sclerals puts me back to square one – hence the nerves.
Of course lenses are a cosmetic plus, not being able to tolerate regular lenses for long is a problem but 3 years into having dry eye I have somewhat given up on that requirement and for me sclerals are about being able to wear sunglasses and not have to walk around with my eyes barely open and to have some pain relief on bad days.
One thing I will add here is that like Ken pointed out to me, everyone’s symptoms are part of what makes a success with sclerals. For example, the patient that has to clean them every 20 minutes because of clouding, but has no successful vision without the lenses, will do this cleaning and it will be a success for them in some way. Those that wear heavy glasses and yet can see out of them but can’t tolerate a scleral for whatever reason, have another outcome.
Mr Pullum is quite a legend, he’s extremely well respected in Hertford. I spent two days in his waiting room and the locals know him, wait for him as he scurries around tending to everyone – it becomes obvious he’s very well known. He takes regular patients for eye exams as well as those of us with scleral requests. I saw a lady successfully try a scleral in a painful eye that has been affected by cancer treatment and how wonderful that she walked away with a solution! He’s a fascinating person, I could have talked to him for hours. He is probably the most hard-working person you could meet as well. He’s been known to stay in the office with patients until late at night. I’m not sure how he packs everything into his schedule but his wonderful office staff certainly help.
The fitting starts with a fitting set, then some tries with a second set of lenses to see how you feel. You can then determine if you feel it’s worth continuing. The lenses are not super comfortable to start with, and for some more uncomfortable than others. I was told there was only about a 25% fitting success rate. For me, it was worth it to still try. You get to a point with pain/problems that you can weigh up the things you have to give up for a while to pay for something that may bring a change to your life.
The lenses are (normally) quickly made on site so you can stay a day in town and wait for them or return. I would recommend spending some time there. It’s not for hasty decisions. It’s for some thought and time.
Unfortunately I had some initial clouding problems, I’m trying with different drops instead of saline in them at the moment, we will see if I can build a solution and be able to wear them. The vision correction is quite amazing. I’ve tried a few lens types before and these make me feel like this must be as close to what being able to see without glasses must be like. It’s quite remarkable. For me I can feel them in my eye but the feeling is not altogether unpleasant. It becomes more unpleasant after some hours.
We will see....
hope this helps someone decide one day.
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