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After finally making up my mind just to go ahead and take the plunge, I went to BFS, stayed for 6 working days and got home last night with my new lenses. I gotta say the place is pretty impressive. Everything everyone has said about how pleasant they make it for patients, the kindness of the staff, etc. is very true. But best of all, I can see better than I have in 15 yrs and my eyes don't hurt! Can't ask for much more than that.
My eye problems are varied: very poor vision from pellucid (a form of keratoconus where the edge of the cornea is thin and irregular), dry eye caused by MGD and whatever else they can throw in there, and a period of intense pain from recurring corneal erosions. I know that nothing is going to be an instant, magical cure, but the sclerals come closer than anything else I could have imagined. I still have to use drops throughout the day, and I still sleep in tranquileyes, but my vision now allows me to drive (not at night tho---too much glare) which is a great relief. I am trying out monovision because in addition to being very nearsighted with a large astigmatism, I now have become farsighted (another disease of the "aged"!) Not sure I'm going to be able to manage with the monovision, as apparently it takes the brain a while to adjust, but its nice not having to put reading glasses on for every little thing.
The scleral comfort is amazing! Right from the very beginning, I couldn't even feel the presence of the lens in my right eye. My left presented more problems, but the doc that was fitting me was terrific and very willing to answer my hundreds of questions and continue to try and refine the lens so it is almost un noticeable. It still kind of shocks me that such a large *thing* in my eye could be so unobtrusive!
I do have to take the lenses out once or twice a day to clean them and put in fresh saline. Apparently my eyes produce a lot of debris so after a while the tears trapped in between the cornea and the scleral becomes cloudy and my vision starts to deteriorate. Its a small price to pay.
The handling of the lenses does take a bit of practice. I've worn contact lenses for many years so I'm quite comfortable sticking things in my eyes, but this is quite a different process. Its been about a week now and I'm just getting really comfortable with it. BFS has people on staff there that teach classes on just how to handle them and they spell out every step and monitor your progress. They are not going to let you take the lenses unless they are quite sure you can handle it. And they even have a 24/7 phone number for people who run into problems!
If anyone has any questions about the process, the place, or whatever, I would be happy to answer what ever I can.
Robin
PS--Interestingly, most of the other patients I met while at BFS were there for dry eye relief rather than for corneal diseases, which I found very interesting. The lens was originally designed by Dr Rosenthal to treat keratoconus-like corneal diseases in people that could no longer tolerate RGPs. Its interesting that I only met one other patient there with corneal disease. The majority of patients I met were there for graft vs host disease, SJS, or Sjogrens.
My eye problems are varied: very poor vision from pellucid (a form of keratoconus where the edge of the cornea is thin and irregular), dry eye caused by MGD and whatever else they can throw in there, and a period of intense pain from recurring corneal erosions. I know that nothing is going to be an instant, magical cure, but the sclerals come closer than anything else I could have imagined. I still have to use drops throughout the day, and I still sleep in tranquileyes, but my vision now allows me to drive (not at night tho---too much glare) which is a great relief. I am trying out monovision because in addition to being very nearsighted with a large astigmatism, I now have become farsighted (another disease of the "aged"!) Not sure I'm going to be able to manage with the monovision, as apparently it takes the brain a while to adjust, but its nice not having to put reading glasses on for every little thing.
The scleral comfort is amazing! Right from the very beginning, I couldn't even feel the presence of the lens in my right eye. My left presented more problems, but the doc that was fitting me was terrific and very willing to answer my hundreds of questions and continue to try and refine the lens so it is almost un noticeable. It still kind of shocks me that such a large *thing* in my eye could be so unobtrusive!
I do have to take the lenses out once or twice a day to clean them and put in fresh saline. Apparently my eyes produce a lot of debris so after a while the tears trapped in between the cornea and the scleral becomes cloudy and my vision starts to deteriorate. Its a small price to pay.
The handling of the lenses does take a bit of practice. I've worn contact lenses for many years so I'm quite comfortable sticking things in my eyes, but this is quite a different process. Its been about a week now and I'm just getting really comfortable with it. BFS has people on staff there that teach classes on just how to handle them and they spell out every step and monitor your progress. They are not going to let you take the lenses unless they are quite sure you can handle it. And they even have a 24/7 phone number for people who run into problems!
If anyone has any questions about the process, the place, or whatever, I would be happy to answer what ever I can.
Robin
PS--Interestingly, most of the other patients I met while at BFS were there for dry eye relief rather than for corneal diseases, which I found very interesting. The lens was originally designed by Dr Rosenthal to treat keratoconus-like corneal diseases in people that could no longer tolerate RGPs. Its interesting that I only met one other patient there with corneal disease. The majority of patients I met were there for graft vs host disease, SJS, or Sjogrens.
What a guy, huh?
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