Scleral Lens Gets Cloudy

[bif3c]

I've had dry eye since a stem cell transplant in June 2003. My condition has grown progressively worse despite all attempts to treat it. I have tried numerous artificial tears, gels and ointments, too many to mention. I have been prescribed Lacrisert, Restasis, Doxycycline, Lotemax, AzaSite, ILube, and FreshKote. I have used warm compresses with a wash cloth, then rice baggies, and now I use the Blephasteam (from Europe). I have numerous pairs of moisture chamber goggles: two Dustbusters (one clear and one tinted) and also two prescription Panoptx (again one clear and one tinted). I wear silicone Quartz goggles when I sleep at night. My upper puncta have been cauterized and my lower puncta have been plugged.

In August 2011, I was fitted with scleral lenses at the Duke Eye Center by Dr. Jill Bryant, who is absolutely wonderful. The lenses relieve the pain and discomfort that I usually experience, but my problem is the reservoir filling with debris and becoming cloudy. My left eye does okay. I can usually get about 4 hours of fairly clear vision before I have to clean the lens. My right eye, which has always been dryer than the left, is really giving me problems. If I'm lucky, it will stay relatively clear for about 2 hours. But it will often become cloudy in less than 1 hour, and sometimes it only takes 30 minutes before my vision is severely limited.

Dr. Bryant assures me that the fit is good, and I have no reason to doubt her. She has also attempted numerous reservoir depths, each one shallower than the last, hoping to limit the amount of debris that can collect inside the lens. She has just ordered the 4th pair with the shallowest reservoir depth yet. The 3rd pair was a slight improvement, but I'm not sure that the 4th pair will be the ultimate solution.

If I could get at least 2 hours on a regular basis, I would be happy. If I could get 4 hours of clear vision, I would be ecstatic. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[bif3c]

Are you using PROSE lenses from BFS with better results?

[Max]

I'm being fitted in NC with Jupiter scleral lenses and while I did not have this problem with the initial fitting attempts, I do now. My lenses get all cloudy within a couple of hours and need to be removed, cleaned and reinserted. I do hope this is not an a prevalent issue they didn't warn me about.

[Hemu]

bif3c, what are your symptoms of dry eye? Do you happen to know whether you have evaporative dry eye(MGD) or aqueous deficient dry eye? If you have the former, any contact lens(dailies or Boston Sclerals) will hurt in the long run. However, if it is just an aqueous deficient dry eye, then Boston Sclerals are definitely a good option.

[PotatoCakes]

Do you continue to use eye drops while your lenses are in? I have to use drops or my lenses get cloudy.

[gichamp]

Scleral lens fogging

I am just a few weeks into Jupiter lenses and had the same issue with the initial pair. Mine would fog almost immediately on insertion. My doctor reordered them with the plasma treatment and they were shipped directly to me at no charge - and they did not request a return of my first set which he said they might do. The plasma treated lenses have not ever fogged. They are crystal clear and were even clear all day when i wore them for 14 hours one day last week. My doctor said i was his second patient out of over 300 who needed the plasma treatment and it worked for both of us.

[Max]

Thanks for responding. My optomitrist swears every pair has been plasma coated. Now I have to wait until January to be fitted with the large sclerals.

[gichamp]

scleral lenses

Thanks for responding. My optomitrist swears every pair has been plasma coated. Now I have to wait until January to be fitted with the large sclerals.

Mine are the 18.4 mm Jupiter lenses and they do look huge. A co-worker saw them before I put them in one morning and she now routinely asks me how my "tea cups" are doing. I hope you have some luck. I went to Dr. Black at MUSC in Charleston, SC, and he has been fitting the lenses for decades and says that he is just pleased that they are coming back in vogue. I do think he is an excellent fitter since he fit me within an hour and I have had no fit issues - just the fogging which was corrected with the replacement plasma treated lenses (which arrived at my house within a week of me calling his office). Good luck, it is so frustrating to have to work so hard for a solution.

Feel free to pm me if you want other information.

[Max]

Mine are the 18.4 mm Jupiter lenses and they do look huge. A co-worker saw them before I put them in one morning and she now routinely asks me how my "tea cups" are doing. I hope you have some luck. I went to Dr. Black at MUSC in Charleston, SC, and he has been fitting the lenses for decades and says that he is just pleased that they are coming back in vogue. I do think he is an excellent fitter since he fit me within an hour and I have had no fit issues - just the fogging which was corrected with the replacement plasma treated lenses (which arrived at my house within a week of me calling his office). Good luck, it is so frustrating to have to work so hard for a solution.

Feel free to pm me if you want other information.

Are these Jupiters? I was told Jupiters automatically come with plazma coating. I'm still waiting for my optician to get one of the 4 only sets of large test lenses. She doesn't mention size but I assume it's going to be the tea-cups How do they feel?

[gichamp]

Are these Jupiters? I was told Jupiters automatically come with plazma coating. I'm still waiting for my optician to get one of the 4 only sets of large test lenses. She doesn't mention size but I assume it's going to be the tea-cups How do they feel?

Mine are jupiters, and according to my doctor they are not automatically plasma treated, and from my experience, i don't think they are automatically plasma treated. There is such a difference in the first and second set i received. As far as how they feel, it's interesting that my eyes feel dry after a few hours with them in, but for the most part my eyes look so much better. I have had two days where i experienced redness while i had them in, but mostly my eyes look pretty clear and my vision is great with them in. Without the lenses, my eyes are always red. I have an appointment next Friday for follow-up, so i will see what the doctor thinks about the dry feeling.

[Max]

Mine are jupiters, and according to my doctor they are not automatically plasma treated, and from my experience, i don't think they are automatically plasma treated. There is such a difference in the first and second set i received. As far as how they feel, it's interesting that my eyes feel dry after a few hours with them in, but for the most part my eyes look so much better. I have had two days where i experienced redness while i had them in, but mostly my eyes look pretty clear and my vision is great with them in. Without the lenses, my eyes are always red. I have an appointment next Friday for follow-up, so i will see what the doctor thinks about the dry feeling.

With all that I've been going thru' to fit these things, my eyes having ALWAYS felt 1000% better and less dry. That's why I keep trying. But there is no way to contact the company that makes Jupiter unless you're a eye doctor, so I can't get the info I need about whether the failures were plasma coasted or not. I too live NC. But the communication between myself and my doctor (although she seems like a decent person) is very poor and she's not available a great deal of the time. She works a second job at an opticians at some mall.

I told her I desperately needed to move quickly since I'm leaving the state for two weeks for the holidays but she says it's all because there are too few loaner test lenses and the company has them out on loan. I can't imagine how they can operate with only four sets of test lenses.

[gichamp]

Dr. Black has his own set of fit lenses and he fit me on the first size he tried. It was a box of different sizes and after he did some eye scans, he chose the lens and put it in and it was good on the first try. He made me stay in the chair with them in for awhile so he could look at them at different time intervals. I posted a thread on sclerals last week and included the website of the lab in Texas which made my lenses and they have some great information posted -sorry, i don't know how to link it here, but you may want to check that out. I also searched this site and google for scleral fogging infomation and it appears for most people that clouding or fogging is an issue with only non plasma coated lenses and in fact, that's what made me call my doctor and they immediately said they would order the same day and ship to my house. Those second lenses were miraclous compared to the first.

[Max]

I just don't think I'm getting honest info. I feel a little paranoid but I never did get the copy of the corneal topography my optician says she did and I have no memory of anything special at all being done at the fittings.

http://www.clspectrum.com/articlevie...ticleID=106865

[Max]

I've contacted Visionary Optics by email and asked why they would have no representation and only 4 or 5 sets of test lenses and why this is taking so damn long.

http://www.visionary-optics.com/jupiter-scleral

[Max]

Visionary Optics has no record of me and they know of no provider other than two, one of which is at UNC. They ship their lenses out within 24 hrs. not weeks.

I don't know what is going on. But with my condition I should have been put in the large sclerals from the start never the smaller ones apparently. Now what to do? What to ask? How to get a real answer? A lot to think about and the money issue - but must wait til after holidays when I return. GRRR. My eyes are much dryer in so. CA