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I have received a large number of e-mails from DEZ members, and have responded to only a few. Allow me to apologize for not addressing each of your questions individually; without inflicting upon each of you a lame excuse regarding how busy my life is (hey, so is yours!), I will simply tell you that since my trip to Boston seven weeks ago, I have completed (yet) another set of medical board exams (and with a bit of grace will soon be board-certified in a third specialty), am currently holding a pretty big part in a local play ("Joseph") with one of my kids, and have been through the hiring and susequent firing of one of our clinic's physicians.
I mention the above, partly to excuse my lameness for not appearing here for the past 4 weeks (other than a jot, here and there), partly just to vent, but mostly to demonstrate that, in spite of what I am about to tell you, my life, is a happy, full one, and that I have no real complaints at the moment. Sure, I wish my eyes would feel a bit better, but I also wish I had a full head of hair, better posture, and a contract with the Red Sox.
So, no further delay, then. Here's the deal, kids:
I am not using my Boston Sclerals.
For whatever reason, I have never been able to get comfortable in them for an extended time period. Yes, they resolve almost completely my dry eye symptoms (burning, surface pain), but they cause a different set of symptoms, mostly a foreign body sensation at the edge of each lens, which causes me zero discomfort upon first insertion, and progresses to pretty significant discomfort by about the third hour. I attempted to "break in" the lenses, to see if this effect would decrease over time, but alas, it has not. In the end, with my recent substantial comfort gains with restasis, I simply feel better with my baseline 1/10 or 2/10 dry-eye discomfort than with the 4/10 foreign body sensation that I get with my sclerals.
But, some key points here:
1) I am glad I went. I gave it a shot, met some incredible people (patients and BFS staff) and while it was not a complete success, it was not a complete failure, either (see #2 below). I will no longer have to spend any moments of my life wondering if this option would have worked for me.
2) I have added to my "box of tricks" something I can use if/when I have a really bad day, or week, or month.
3) Your mileage may vary. Dramatically. While I hope my experience can help those who have specific questions about the process of getting BFS sclerals, I think that the response to a given person to the lenses is not entirely predictable, and I think this has already been evidenced by members of this very forum who have posted about their experiences.
4) A key part of my "failure" with these lenses (and I can't stress this enough) is my continued improvement on Restasis (which I had "failed" previously, by the way). I have gone from chronic 5-6/10 pain on a daily basis to 1-2/10, and an occasional blissful pain-free day. I truly believe that if I was still in that early, painful haze, the trade-off would have been in the sclerals' favor, and I would be wearing them more.
Bottom line: Do I think DEZers should max out their last credit card to get scleral lenses? Probably not, since there is a very real risk that they will not benefit you. But if your insurance will pay, if you have a whole lot to gain (i.e., if you suffer more than I do), then I hope that you will consider a trip to Needham, at least to get the "fan test."
I'll watch this forum to answer questions, and again, I appreciate the patience of those who waited to hear back from me. Of course if anything changes (i.e., if I start wearing/tolerating the lenses more), I will keep everyone informed.
Your friend,
Erik
I mention the above, partly to excuse my lameness for not appearing here for the past 4 weeks (other than a jot, here and there), partly just to vent, but mostly to demonstrate that, in spite of what I am about to tell you, my life, is a happy, full one, and that I have no real complaints at the moment. Sure, I wish my eyes would feel a bit better, but I also wish I had a full head of hair, better posture, and a contract with the Red Sox.
So, no further delay, then. Here's the deal, kids:
I am not using my Boston Sclerals.
For whatever reason, I have never been able to get comfortable in them for an extended time period. Yes, they resolve almost completely my dry eye symptoms (burning, surface pain), but they cause a different set of symptoms, mostly a foreign body sensation at the edge of each lens, which causes me zero discomfort upon first insertion, and progresses to pretty significant discomfort by about the third hour. I attempted to "break in" the lenses, to see if this effect would decrease over time, but alas, it has not. In the end, with my recent substantial comfort gains with restasis, I simply feel better with my baseline 1/10 or 2/10 dry-eye discomfort than with the 4/10 foreign body sensation that I get with my sclerals.
But, some key points here:
1) I am glad I went. I gave it a shot, met some incredible people (patients and BFS staff) and while it was not a complete success, it was not a complete failure, either (see #2 below). I will no longer have to spend any moments of my life wondering if this option would have worked for me.
2) I have added to my "box of tricks" something I can use if/when I have a really bad day, or week, or month.
3) Your mileage may vary. Dramatically. While I hope my experience can help those who have specific questions about the process of getting BFS sclerals, I think that the response to a given person to the lenses is not entirely predictable, and I think this has already been evidenced by members of this very forum who have posted about their experiences.
4) A key part of my "failure" with these lenses (and I can't stress this enough) is my continued improvement on Restasis (which I had "failed" previously, by the way). I have gone from chronic 5-6/10 pain on a daily basis to 1-2/10, and an occasional blissful pain-free day. I truly believe that if I was still in that early, painful haze, the trade-off would have been in the sclerals' favor, and I would be wearing them more.
Bottom line: Do I think DEZers should max out their last credit card to get scleral lenses? Probably not, since there is a very real risk that they will not benefit you. But if your insurance will pay, if you have a whole lot to gain (i.e., if you suffer more than I do), then I hope that you will consider a trip to Needham, at least to get the "fan test."
I'll watch this forum to answer questions, and again, I appreciate the patience of those who waited to hear back from me. Of course if anything changes (i.e., if I start wearing/tolerating the lenses more), I will keep everyone informed.
Your friend,
Erik
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