Boston Scleral Lens - Is this NEW?

[Jay Cee]

Anyone have any experience with this? Haven't seen any discussion on this forum with this organization?

http://www.bostonsight.org/

Thx

[Lucy]

Hello JayCee

The Boston Scleral Lens is not new. There are quite a few references on this bb about the lens. You can do a search, or just look down about 20 rows from this post and there is one heading I see for Boston Scleral Lens.

Please check below, and in other parts of the forum.
Here: I've made a link for you.

http://www.dryeyezone.com/talk/forumdisplay.php?f=58

[Jay Cee]

Hi Lucy,

Thanks for the links...this is very encouraging! How have you been doing with them since you went through the process? Do you notice that your eyes are better when you are not wearing the lenses compared to a year ago? Is the drying of the eye lids managable? Or does this become a chonic condition?

Since I don't fit into the clinical definition of "dry eyes" due to good tearing, I'm wondering if this will help with the chronic redness!?
Thx!

[Lucy]

My experience with the lens has its ups and downs. Due to things unrelated to my eyes or the lens, I could not wear them for the first couple of months I had them. I got a good start, then had an eyelid infection. The infection went from the eyelid to the to my eye. However, the eyelid problem was an ongoing problem for awhile and I just left the lens alone in order to make sure no cross contamination occurred.

I'm wearing the lens probably 3 or 4 days a week at the present time. Time can be from a couple of hours to 10 hours. I wear the lens when its convenient and am not a slave to any schedule. Sometimes after wearing the lens for several days in a row, I need to take a few days off because of my most problematic eye. (No need for details-my problem is multi-faceted.)

I do have to use drops to keep the outside of the lens moist perhaps once per hour when wearing them. In some conditions, it's not this ofter and can go several hours without drops. The lens has helped with trigeminal neuralgia intensity I suffer in the worst eye. I still have lots of discomfort in that eye, but the lens had definitely helped. My problem is more than just dry eyes. That's important for you to know. I've also had surgery on the worst eye since I've had the lens and require some refits, but a trip to Boston is a major event and must be planned for. I also need to remove the lens and rewet/refill the bowl of the lens after a couple of hours for best vision.

For me, it's most important to have wraparound sunglasses or some type of goggles handy when wearing the lens outside. One day I went for a walk in a park when there was high humidity with no breeze. I did not need the usual goggles/glasses. Today, I went to visit my eye doc and found out the reason my left eye was extra painful was the plug he put in last month did not stay. I could not tell by looking the plug was not intact, but my eye became bad enough I needed attention. I hope my details help you with your information gathering.

[Jay Cee]

Thank you Lucy for sharing your journey so far...I had punctal plugs and had the ducts coterized (sp) a few years ago; unfortunately, for me the plugs never seemed to stay in and the puntal ducts seemed to open up after awhile (stubborn little things! ). So I am really leaning towards the lenses now.

The doctor I went to see this week was nice but did not make any effort to look into this for me. I'm moving to New Jersey in a few weeks so I'm confident I'll have a better job of finding someone there I can work with.

[Rebecca Petris]

Jay Cee,

I was recently fitted with the Boston Scleral and am in the process of testing these out right now. This is my first week of attempting to wear them full time. I have so far been fine with wearing them pretty much from when I get up till nearly bedtime. I probably lubricate them every 3 hours. I am pretty sure that for best vision I would probably need to remove them once or twice during the day, but I have not actually tried that yet.

The difference to how my eyes feel after removing them, compared to how they normally feel at that time of the evening, is dramatic.

It's worth noting that the Boston Foundation for Sight is a non-profit, and the charges to be fitted there, while quite steep, are less than their costs, so the criteria for admission are relatively strict. They have some flexibility but usually there needs to be a demonstrable disability (vision, pain or both).

[Jay Cee]

Thanks Rebecca, I'm aware of the foundations non-for profit status and their restrictions; my concern is with working with a physician that has experience with this process; which is not the case here in Louisiana.