Scleral lenses in Europe???

[stephgurl1986]

Hey,

I read a lot of positive things about these sceral lenses from Boston. As I don't know what to do with my severe dry eyes I think it might be a good idea to try these lenses.
But I have no idea where I could do this because travelling to the USA would be far to expensive...
Does anybody know where one can get scleral lenses in Europe esp. Germany???

Thank,
Steffi

[Rebecca Petris]

Steffi,

We have another German member here (not actively posting now) who is a successful scleral wearer. He was fitted by Ken Pullum in London. He is very knowledgeable about these therapies and I feel sure if there was an equivalent or better local source, he'd have let us know about it. I think that London continues to be the place that Europeans go for sclerals (other than the US).

[kakinda]

wie geht's Steffi
There are in fact 3 options in Europe,
1.the UK: Ken Pullum, I believe his website is something like sclerals.com (I'm currently not at home so more later).
2. The NL (Utrecht, but I'll check) by someone named Visser who actually is in contact with Perry Rosenthal (from the Boston Foundation).
3. France (the ones that fitted me but they'll only fit people with severe OSD with an important corneal involvement) but the ocularist is someone I know so I may ask if he would consider fitting milder cases.... but you said yours was severe (do you have ulcers, RCE, superficial punctuate keratitis?).

Maybe you could send me a private email telling me a little bit about your case and so that I may eventually facilitate communication or provide you contacts accordingly.

Edit: Sorry, i anwered yesterday in a hurry but i now see in your profile that you live in Berlin, so any option requires some travel... no obvious closer destination except maybe the NL? This is important because sclerals may require some follow-up. The follow-up France is actually excellent.

Tchüss,
Kakinda

[kakinda]

One more precision,
there are of course sclerals elsewhere for more common refractive issues such as keratoconus and cornea plana, etc but sclerals used in OSD (so anything from Stevens-johnson's to severe DE), then you have to consider one of the 3 options above if you want to have the appropriate follow-up required for OSD... and i can tell the you want that or should.

[stephgurl1986]

Thanks for your help!
@Kakinda, I emailed you yesterday, thanks for the offer to do so!!!

[kurt]

Ich glaube, dass man in Deutschland kein Scleral RGP findet, aber ich weiss nicht. Vielleicht könnten Sie auch Phillip_from_Germany email schicken. Er ging nach Großbritannien, um Doktor Ken Pullum zu sehen.

Gruß,
Kurt

[kakinda]

@Kakinda, I emailed you yesterday...

Hi I don't check that adress often (clogged with spam), I'll check tonight. Concerning what Kurt said: Indeed, I believe the are no sclerals for OSD in Germany to my current knowledge. However, I would be a bit surprised to learn that there are no RGP sclerals at all for refractive problems in Germany (I guess any keratoconus association will be able to tell you). Still, you need a proper follow-up... because adapting scleral on a healthy "surface" is not the same thing as in an unhealthy one.

[stephgurl1986]

Unfortuately, Philipp from Germany is not using this forum anymore and I cannot send him an email in order to ask him. Does anybody have his address??? I really need to know a doctor to contact in Germany before doing anything in the UK...and I think I might nedd to find somebody how pays for that...It would be great if somebody could help me find his email address because I'm sure he might be able to help me!!! Thanks

[DrG]

Unfortuately, Philipp from Germany is not using this forum anymore and I cannot send him an email in order to ask him. Does anybody have his address??? I really need to know a doctor to contact in Germany before doing anything in the UK...and I think I might nedd to find somebody how pays for that...It would be great if somebody could help me find his email address because I'm sure he might be able to help me!!! Thanks

FYI, Phillip once told me in a private message that he had been fitted by Ken Pullum in the UK.

[kakinda]

Hi Steffi,
I haven't heard from you again so did you find the info you needed?

in any case, here's some additional info on European options for those interested:
Actually it's not Utrecht (they actually work with some cornea specialist there) but their office is in Nejmegen (NL). Here's their website
http://www.vissercontactlenzen.nl/Ba...6&Hmi=4&Smi=16
for those of you who read Dutch or are willing to try ... als u blief!

As for the UK, here's an additional website related to K. Pullum.
http://sclerals.com/

As for the French option, get in contact with me, I'll facilitate contact since i see him regularly.
he's one of the most helpful people i ever met and I've met quite a few in this context (check my post on how many docs).

Viel Glück