Dr. Gemoules and my first Scleral Lens

[Rebecca Petris]

My husband who had lasik 14 years ago, recently started experiencing some halo and glare at night time. I wonder if this means his problems are starting to surface? Could there be delayed issues with Lasik, as much as 14 years later?

Halo and glare from LASIK normally result from higher order aberrations induced by the surgery. It's generally obvious both clinically and symptomatically pretty much immediately after surgery. There's other causes of halo and glare... from astigmatism to cataracts.

[miki-mama]

It would be such a great thing for me if the lenses can eliminate, or even reduce some of the glares and halos at night time. It is one of the most debilitating condition I have aside from the pain and inflammation. I have been able to get good vision correction from all the lenses I have tried. But none of them helped with the glare and halos. My husband who had lasik 14 years ago, recently started experiencing some halo and glare at night time. I wonder if this means his problems are starting to surface? Could there be delayed issues with Lasik, as much as 14 years later?

[DryInDenver]

miki-mama,

I have some minor double vision and blurriness in one eye that is completely corrected by my lens. Also, I spoke at length about this type of thing with Dr. G when I was in Dallas. I was surprised at how well he said the lenses can fix the starburst and night glare problems. The story that really sticks with me is about a patient that flew in from Europe that had been living for many years with triple vision. The first time he put his new lens in he broke down in tears of joy and had quite an emotional moment sitting the exam chair. It's not really a night time issue like you are suffering from, but I think it's a good example of the complex vision issues his new technology is capable of correcting.

I looked through his "Patient Testimonials" and saw several patients that had similar "symptoms" at night.

[Rebecca Petris]

To those of you who wear Dr. G's laserfit lenses.

In his website, Dr. G talks about his lenses correcting higher order aberrations such as, ghosting of images, smearing of images, large glare around lights, etc. Has anyone experienced these issues that were corrected by wearing either Dr. G's or any other scleral lenses? I have several of these "symptoms", glare around lights, ghosting of images, etc. particularly at night which prevents me from driving or doing other work that requires adequate vision. It would be great if either Dr. G's lenses or some other device can correct these higher order aberrations.

Hi miki-mama,

I have all those symptoms and plenty more from central islands and HOA after LASIK in 2001. DrG's lenses were the very first that eliminated these things for me while still being wearable. And that was TEN YEARS ago, long before his current technology and also before he was fitting any kind of sclera's, so as you can imagine his ability to improve those vision symptoms will have improved over the years too. My expectation of a really well fitting scleral lens is that it should be able to at least dramatically reduce any such symptoms. I have also successfully worn PROSE lenses for many years for the same symptoms.

Night glare can be tricky and is not always fully suppressed by lenses for sure. For me, though, I would say that the only symptom no lens has ever corrected as much as I might like is loss of contrast sensitivity. But I am a pretty extreme case because I was a very high myope so my spherical ab is off the charts.

[miki-mama]

To those of you who wear Dr. G's laserfit lenses.

In his website, Dr. G talks about his lenses correcting higher order aberrations such as, ghosting of images, smearing of images, large glare around lights, etc. Has anyone experienced these issues that were corrected by wearing either Dr. G's or any other scleral lenses? I have several of these "symptoms", glare around lights, ghosting of images, etc. particularly at night which prevents me from driving or doing other work that requires adequate vision. It would be great if either Dr. G's lenses or some other device can correct these higher order aberrations.

[L8rgator]

I believe I was also told that insurance often covers the exam, even if they don't cover the lens or fitting. Some will cover the exam and lenses, but not the fitting. It all depends on the provider I guess.

[L8rgator]

Some medical insurance will cover it, and some won't. With mine you have to ask for pre-approval, and then have it done, and then submit, and then they decide (they rejected it for me, as expected, because I called and asked very detailed questions before visiting U of I and then Dr G's secretary also called a couple times and they clearly said ABSOLUTELY NOT), and then you file an appeal if they say no. The PROSE people made it sound like it might be not uncommon for insurance to say no when you ask, and then change their mind after all is said and done(I might be remembering that wrong though?). That prospect was a little scary for me, because if I went with a PROSE and the insurance didn't cover it, that would have been really expensive. Although my copay probably would have been 20% either way, plus a deductible, plus insurance charges were higher than self pay, so might have been expensive either way. Dr. g was much less expensive, so if the insurance doesn't cover it, I won't feel as bad (or as poor). I haven't filed it yet though to see what they say, and just requested the forms today. I kept putting it off, since I think it will be a PITA. I have 6 months to file after the date I had it done.

[MGD666]

L8rgator - so informative and helpful with both the anecdotal info, the videos, and now the close-up photos of the lenses themselves. Thanks so much.

(And you too DryInDenver).

Please continue to post your experiences with these - it's really informative to hear about (and see in detail) these lenses - especially in the case of those (me included) who might seriously be considering them as an option.

[hosanna13]

DryInDenver, thanks for your input!! I think Dr. G's lenses must arguably be the best on the market. I'll give my Jupiters a year and consider going to see him in TX. Does insurance cover any portion of it?

[DryInDenver]

Interesting. Thanks for those pics too. I was always very self conscience in my goggles but it never crossed my mind n my sclerals. Most people can't see the lenses even when I'm trying to point them out unless I lift my lid to show them the black dot(s) that mark the top of the lens (1 dot for right, 2 for left). Tonight, after reading this I took one lens out and asked my wife if it looked like my corneas were different sizes. After some carefull studying, she said yes. So I think there is some slight magnification of the eye, but it is almost completely unnoticeable and can only be observed if I have only 1 lens in. So for me, no, I've never once felt self-conscience in my sclerals. Quite the opposite really.

[L8rgator]

Ok I think I have picked out some new (unflattering, hence the cropped close-ups!) shots today where I think you can really see the lens - and I put them on the same blog page (second "post" at http://l8rgator.weebly.com/ )

I also added a close up of my lens alongside my spare so you can see the contour and general shape (top "post" at http://l8rgator.weebly.com/ ). Dr G had said he was "very particular" about the thickness of his lenses, so I think that contributes to the less noticeable profile when it's in. You can see the minimal smooth transition to the sclera area and the more or less even overall thickness of lens material. I also added links under to pictures of PROSE and other lenses there so you can compare and contrast.

[André Pereira]

L8rgator
Just like the temperature of my city. But it is more humid.

[hosanna13]

Wow you really can't see Dr. G's lenses! That's great.

I have Jupiters and you can see them in my eyes--others have noticed, but I think they were looking to see if I wore contacts or not. I'm also detailed-oriented so I notice things most people wouldn't. With the Jupiters, you can definitely see their circumference in the whites of my eye.

[L8rgator]

It's interesting you say that. Do you feel your eyes look different with yours in? Can you tell a difference between when you have only one in? I'm wondering if it's just sclerals in general that makes you feel sensitive, or maybe the shape of the brand you are using.

When I wore the test PROSE lens in Chicago, I definitely felt self-conscious. Both my husband and I could tell it magnified my eye, and it made my lower lid sag more. I wasn't happy about it, but the relief was so magical I would have made due. The Jupiter lens looked much better - you could hardly see it was in, other than maybe a bit of lower lid sag. The Laserfit lens has been somewhat hard for people to see. They ask me how my eye is, and I lift my top lid up so they can see I have a new contact in (there are 2 dots at the top I show them). Last week my chiropractor said "wow, you really can't see that unless you are looking for it". Dr. G said that the test PROSE may have looked enlarged only because it wasn't fitted yet. I felt like it was supersmooth - like less contoured, with an even slope from middle to edge (so seemed thicker). The Jupiter felt like it had very pronounced steps, like where the vault started. Dr. G's feels in-between - but it's hard to say not having samples to compare and just going by memory.

I can see the laserfit just fine, and I do notice it when I look at myself in the mirror. But honestly it doesn't bother me. But to be fair, I've got noticeable permanent damage around my eye from my accident (scars, dimple, missing padding, wrinkles, discoloration) already, and sometimes embarrassing red blotches on my cheek from the nighttime bandages, and previously I was wearing big goggles or bandages over the eye - so the lens is really a big step up for me so it really can't make me self conscious. And I'm married so I don't have to care how I look anymore anyways

I tried to take a bunch of pictures tonight of mine for you to see, but unfortunately I could only get maybe one clear enough to really be able to get a good view of the lens. The one PROSE and one Jupiter pictures I took are even worse, so sorry they aren't much help either. I uploaded them here http://l8rgator.weebly.com/

[hosanna13]

Do you guys ever feel self-conscious about the large lenses? I know that to the average person, they would just think they're normal contact lenses and they couldn't care less. However, I feel self-conscious about the lenses. It's a very trivial thing compared to having to live in pain 24/7, but just curious