scleral users need help

[hirentherock]

Hi
I have SJS and i recently got bsl for my eye which had cataract before 6months.
I choose sclerals mainly for its vision improvements.From 6/24 to 6/12 or so.

Its been 6days since im wearing it.
Doctor had told me to wear it daily in 3 hours patches initially then increase the time period upto 4 hours then try for more time.
Im having some problems within these 3 hour itself.Within 1/1.5 hours the saline goes off and it feels very discomforting.Also when i wear it and go driving on bike, even with protection driving glasses on, my eye gets dried out feeling within a few minutes.This wuoldnt happen if i didnt wear sclerals.

Also after removal of bsl my one side of the eye gets redder.

And when im off the sclerals and go out in night, the flashing lights are disturbing me more than it used to before wearing sclerals.

Also the vision and photophobia keeps worsening wth passage of every half hour.May be due to the saline getting lesser.

Do u all phaze these problems?Or is it me only who is feeling discomfort?Or is it just the initial phase?
I will be consuting my doctor after 3 weeks.
Please help i really need sclerals for its vision improvements but these problems are making me worry whether im not eligible for sclerals?

[faithfully]

T

HITRock, sorry to hear about your Sclerals. I too have Sclerals and have tried so hard to make them work but find that I can only wear them for a short amount of time and then I cant wait to take them out. I have had mine now for over two years and I may now wear them one day a week for a few hours.
It was suggested to me to use the Unisol along with the Celluvisc, a thicker solution. It did help some.
BFS wants me to come back for a new and better fitting pair of lenses. They believe a better fit might help with not only the pain and redness but swelling that I am experiencing. When I take my lenses out my eyes are completely bloodshot.
Yesterday I tried quad. plugs again. Still hoping to find something that works after five years. My d/x is Sjogrens with severely dry eyes.
Praying you find what works and get relief.
Faithfully

[Amyfloor]

Hello. I am in the process of being fitted for scleral lens and my eyes are red,too,during insertion and removal. I think I need to get used to having "hard" plastic in my eyes and eventually will adjust. Doc says my corneas are on good shape but if course I am concerned about white as well. I definitely am not as comfortable as I would have expected but am hoping for the best. These lenses are not a cure, unfortunately!!

[DCRdryeye]

Hirentherock, did you get the scleral lens from BFS? I've had all the problems you speak about too, but my amazing optometrist has persisted to modify them until they are not causing as much redness and discomfort. I've probably tried half a dozen pairs so far, and each of those were tweaked and whenever the adjustments didn't work we went for a new shape. Currently, I can wear my left scleral lens for 12 hours without any redness, and that's without breaking them in (not recommended). My right scleral causes redness at the 6 hour mark, so that's being lathed to take the pressure off the sclera where it's pressing too hard.

My left eye is the driest and the scleral lens still feels grainy and uncomfortable for the first one hour after insertion. Then it gradually feels better. I've noticed when I'm drier, especially recently when we had a few warmer days I couldn't handle wearing them. I was constantly applying artificial tears over the top of them without much success.

Hiren I've used Thera tear gel in my scleral lenses and find they feel more comfortable. Perhaps you can give that a try? But I tend to think either you may not have a very good fit, or your eyelids/cornea are too sensitive for scleral lenses. But it's early days for you, perhaps keep persisting with them. I've persisted and glad I did

[Blinks]

Amyfloor,

Just sent you a private message! Hope your comfort level will improve.

[hirentherock]

thank you all for the replies...Yes its BFS lense.
Actually the eye for which i have got sclerals is bsl less than the other eye when i was there for 6hour trial for each eye.
I will have an appointment next month.The problem is the bfs clinic is 36hrs far away from my place so i can go there monthly.Cant go at my wish due to train reservation unavailability problems.
Right now i have not tried anything in my bsl as its been just 6/7days since i got the lenses.

Also i wanted to ask, the over all comform can be better with the scleral in 2nd eye also?I dont feel any comfort in terms of photophobia with just 1 eye scleral.Moreover my other is more photophobic.So for over all discomfort i need to take other eye scleral also?

I will consult my doc when i will go there for a better fitting.Is there any suggestion which size should fit me?Like i need smaller or larger lense?

[DCRdryeye]

I am more aware of a scleral lens if only wearing one. For example, having just one scleral in the left eye, and none in the right eye, I'll be very aware that the left eye has a scleral lens. When the right eye has a scleral lens (thus both eyes with scleral lens) I am not aware of either of them unless I really focus on them. Perhaps you should get another scleral lens for the other eye?

In terms of size, generally most scleral lenses from BFS are about 18 mm in diameter. This may vary depending on your condition, the positioning of your eyelids, eyeball shape, etc. Some scleral wearers have 18 mm in one eye, and 22 mm for the other. It's very individual.

[hirentherock]

one more question.
How do u store ur stock of saline?Fridge?
Can i use slightly colder water in sclerals?Any1 tried?

[DCRdryeye]

I was given a 360 ml bottle of saline solution ("Lens Plus, OcuPure Saline) and it doesn't require refridgeration. Or sometimes I'll use the smaller vials of saline and use them to wash the solution off the scleral lenses and also use them to fill it up (if I'm not using Thera tear gel). If I have half a vial of saline, I'll refridgerate it and use it the next day, but never two days in a row since it does not contain preservatives. So you can definately refridgerate your saline and use slightly colder water in your lens without a problem. It's trial and error, try different techniques and you'll find something that works for you

[hirentherock]

ohkay...
im feeling the thing u said...as scleral is only in 1 eye, it bothers and keeps giving me feeling of having smthing in the eye.When i was at trial with both eye scleral i was having this feeling much less..So probably i shud get another one!

[Amyfloor]

Linda, having trouble accessing private messages. I'm receiving treatment at BFS for scleral lens. My corneal specialist at wills eye Philadelphia recommended BFS. Sorry if post was misleading! Amy

[Rebecca Petris]

Lots of great suggestions here... I agree about two vs one lens (I normally don't notice when I have both lenses in but when I have one lens in I notice it). However

Within 1/1.5 hours the saline goes off and it feels very discomforting.Also when i wear it and go driving on bike, even with protection driving glasses on, my eye gets dried out feeling within a few minutes...

Also after removal of bsl my one side of the eye gets redder...

Those things wouldn't be the case with an optimal fit I think... must be frustrating not to be able to go more often but over time I'm sure they'll improve the lens. As for the vision issues... v. important to discuss with the doctor, if it's making your vision worse after lens wear then either the lens needs to be good enough to wear it all day long or something really needs to be changed because that's counterproductive... In smaller lenses I've had issues of my vision being changed after removing the lenses but never with sclerals and I don't remember what it is that can cause that.

[Guest]

It's interesting how some people had the fit adjusted so many times... My fitter at BFS had me pegged as a corneal neuralgia case right from the get-go - I'm not disagreeing that that has something (maybe a lot!) to do with my issues, but I can't help but wonder if someone different would have been able to make the lenses work for me. This is especially since I've seen the occasional person post here who has gone to one place for lenses and told nothing more can be done for the fit, only to go somewhere else and have it work out perfectly.

Hmmm.... I need a crystal ball to tell me if it's even possible for me to get good results with sclerals

In any case, due to the high cost, and the uncertainty of whether or not it would even help spending more money on another pair/another fitter/another clinic etc, I'm not willing to do it at this point.

[spmcc]

This paper (http://www.aao.org/publications/eyen...007/cornea.cfm) says that Rosenthal has had some success with dilute, sub-hypoesthetic concentrations of local anesthetics in the fluid reservoir of the scleral lens. He's also used a new antiepileptic drug, lacosamide, in the reservoir.

I don't know if any of that will help with the 1 versus 2 lens problem, but it's perhaps something to keep in mind.

Good luck.

[Guest]

This paper (http://www.aao.org/publications/eyen...007/cornea.cfm) says that Rosenthal has had some success with dilute, sub-hypoesthetic concentrations of local anesthetics in the fluid reservoir of the scleral lens. He's also used a new antiepileptic drug, lacosamide, in the reservoir.

I don't know if any of that will help with the 1 versus 2 lens problem, but it's perhaps something to keep in mind.

Good luck.

He tried those on me, and they definitely improved my tolerability of the lenses - was glad to have had the chance to try them.