My first six weeks in sclerals

[Rebecca Petris]

Finally managed to write this up... here. I'll post the body of it, or a truncated version, here shortly.

[Flick]

Glad to hear that the Boston Scleral has worked out so well for you so far. You are certainly deserving of such an effective treatment, since you've helped so many others.

I'm curious about two things about the Boston Scleral that I couldn't find on their website:

1) What does the lens look like on your eye? Is it very noticeable?

2) How is the reservoir filled with artificial tears? When the lens is first put in or throughout the day?

I hope you continue to improve.

[Rebecca Petris]

Thanks Flick!!

Your questions are both things I was pretty curious about before going too.

1) What does the lens look like on your eye? Is it very noticeable?

As far as I can tell, if I don't tell people they'd never notice on their own. I've even been to a medical conference since then where I mentioned it to many optometrists in the course of conversation and they kind of stared for a moment and then saw them.

You know how you can see the edge of someone's soft contacts on the white of your eye if you look? It's like that except a bit farther out, so you really only see it a bit in the left and right sides.

2) How is the reservoir filled with artificial tears? When the lens is first put in or throughout the day?

When it's first put in. Some people remove them during the day and refill them. I've never tried that yet - though I probably will eventually just to see if it further improves how they feel in the evening. When I take them out at night, I can feel a bit of fluid spilling onto my eye.

When you insert them, you bend your head all the way over and stare straight down at the table. You fill the the lens till it's literally overflowing (you know how you can fill a cup till the liquid is higher than the edge?) and gently push it up onto your eye till it clears the lids.

[Lucy]

Unisol

Rebecca, you are filling the "bowl" with Unisol saline, correct?

you know how you can fill a cup till the liquid is higher than the edge?)

Tis meniscus as explained to me by the insertion tech. LOL, I thought it was funny, too.

[SusieD]

Im also very pleased to hear this is helping you so much.

I unfortunately am very squemish with lenses and always struggled with them the short amount of time I did wear them.

Could I just ask how far the lense goes back - what I mean is you say you can just see it at the sides but what about the part of your eye where the lids normally cover? can you feel the edges of it on your lids when you blink?

Sorry if I didnt word that very well!

[Rebecca Petris]

Could I just ask how far the lense goes back - what I mean is you say you can just see it at the sides but what about the part of your eye where the lids normally cover? can you feel the edges of it on your lids when you blink?

It goes quite far. Hm, maybe about 4mm onto the white of the eye, so in terms of top and bottom, the edges are quite far under the lids and cannot be seen even if I open my eyes as wide as I can. Certainly can't feel the edges on the lids though.

[Flick]

I found some pictures of scleral lens.

http://www.eyefreedom.com/slenses.asp

They don't look very noticeable, except for the profile shot.

[SusieD]

That profile looks strange. surely it doesnt stick out that much. It that pic it doesnt look as though the lids will go over it very easily when blinking!

Obviously they do, but you wouldnt think it to look at that profile pic!

[Rebecca Petris]

What a weird profile shot. That's a Jupiter lens, if I'm not mistaken?

Looks like there are a variety of lens sizes in that photo collection. Overall I'd say mine is less noticeable than those because it's larger so more of it is covered by the lids. Take a look at the ones in the third row from the top. Mine extends further than the one in the picture on the left. The one on the right looks similar to my Macrolenses, maybe even a hair smaller (if I remember right).

[Lucy]

My lens are 18.5 also. The lens are not really visible except for the near point nasal side. I've had people remark (knowing I was wearing the lens) that I had a "glassy eyed look." This is one of the points covered in the concent forms.

[calli66]

Rebecca- did you ever try glasses over contacts to improve your best-corrected acuity? I have a pair of weak -1.00 glasses that I keep in my car for putting on--over contacts--for evening/night driving. I am wondering whether the combination of Boston lenses (correcting major aberrations and acuity) and regular glasses (to boost acuity) has been suggested by any of your doctors.
C66

[Rebecca Petris]

Rebecca- did you ever try glasses over contacts to improve your best-corrected acuity?
C66

My vision isn't correctible with any combination of corrective lenses other than gas perms, becuase the problem is not refractive error (myopia, astigmatism etc) - it's irregularities on the central cornea. Even with gas perms, which provide an artificially smooth optical zone, it's not possible to compensate for all the irregularity.

[Philipp_from_Germany]

Sclerals

Hi Rebecca;

I just finished reading your report about those first six weeks and am happy that those lenses seem to improve your situation. I strongly encourage you to continue wearing them and establishing a routine. It took me almost half a year and now I am changing the fluid 4 times a day in a manner of seconds. Last week-end I was clubbing all through the night until 8 in the morning. I changed my sclerals twice in the club that night and when my contact-lens wearing non-dry-eye friends were rubbing their red tearing sore eyes I just changed the fluid reservoir and I think I was the person with the best feeling in his eyes at 5 in the night :-)

Take care!

Philipp

[sazy123]

Hi rebecca,

Is the scleral thing an option for people with moderately severe dry eye? or do they have to be the worst cases?

Just keeping my options open, becuase apart from during a sinus flare up (in which my eyes revert to being mildly dry) Nothing has helped or given me suffcient comfort in over 1 year. Is there any chance in hell that i would be considered for sceral lenses, or should i forget it?

Also can they make one in ur persription so you dont need glasses as well?

chears

[SusieD]

Rebecca

Can I just ask you this question, I know you said you went for these lenses because of your specific vision problem as opposed to your dry eye (but it helps that too of course).

If you just had the dry eye you have and not the particular vision problem, would you have still considered sclerals? Is your vision problem what made you a candidate for them?

Many thanks.