Will Scleral Lenses prevent healing?

[KeithM]

Hello,

My severe dry eye condition has evolved to the point where I am considering getting Scleral lenses. After foolish mistakes I have made in the past which made my dry eye condition worse, the best solution was just "time" to try and let the body heal and allow my dry eyes from that particular trauma to heal. Last year, after a plane ride exposed me to the cosmic ionic radiation on the flight, coupled by a reaction to mercury amalgam a month earlier, my eyes were severely bad for about 6 months, but did bounce back to what I call a "manageable" point...still severe, but at least able to function through the day. This year in mid-February, I foolishly went into dry sauna rooms at a spa facility, and the incandescent heat lamps used naturally contains infrared energy. This has put my eyes in a very dry condition since the incident. Question...if I get Scleral lenses, with they, in any way inhibit the natural healing process, to allow my eyes to hopefully naturally recover a bit from the heat lamp exposure? As of now, I am trying acupuncture in an effort to help this healing process along, but would like to consider Sclerals in order to hopefully immediately become a productive member of society.
Thank You, and I would value any feedback you might have.

[Hokucat]

Hi Keith,

This is something to ask a scleral specialist when you go for a consult. It may also depend on how well you tolerate wearing sclerals (some people cannot wear them), and how dry your eyes are, based on my experience.

When I initially got sclerals I had severe dry eyes, but was still working. I was able to continue working several months with the help of these lenses. But as time went on my eyes became much worse. Don’t think it was caused by sclerals, but from not resolving underlying issues like diet to produce better quality oil from my meibomian glands, and the damage continued use of computers was causing of increasingly blocked meibomian glands. My eyes became so bone dry, I could barely keep them open for even a few seconds to read, watch TV, look at electronic devices, etc. without them hurting and burning. I couldn’t wear my sclerals anymore, they felt like hard suction cups on my eyes as soon as I put them on, and further irritated the surface of my already compromised eyes. I ended up quitting my job and was homebound for ~three years.

After getting a thin tear film back once I found the combination of treatment, diet and protocol that helped me improve my condition, I tried sclerals again. The sclerals helped me with much more daily functioning, and didn’t irritate my eyes anymore, even with 10-12 hours of daily wear. In fact, it seemed to help the surface of my eyes get better, as I could wear glasses instead of sclerals for a couple days per week without the type of hurting and burning I experienced before.

I now no longer need sclerals. I still have very dry eyes, but if I follow my diet, treatment, and protocol and limit overuse of my eyes, it’s manageable. So it’s possible sclerals may have help with the healing process, at least for me the second time around.

Have you tried autologous serum tears, made from your blood serum which has similar components to one’s natural tears? This can potentially help with the healing process of your eyes if you use it several times a day. When wearing sclerals, I actually included a few drops of serum tears and a few PF drops with the PF saline when filling my sclerals, with my scleral specialist’s approval.

Hope this helps and you get better soon!

[KeithM]

Hello Hokucat,

Thank you so much for taking the time for your detailed response. I greatly appreciate it. Your story is one of hope! That's awful that you had to suffer for 3 years before you achieved a manageable condition. I have been there as well and am suffering now from this latest source of dryness. I have had Dry Eyes for 28 years, since I made the foolish mistake of taking that evil drug Accutane. Over the years, there has been worsening of my condition from X-Ray exposure, and the latest 2 months ago from heat lamps in a sauna giving off infrared radiation, and flare ups from dental amalgams, and antibiotics.
My current job just moved out of state, so I am in the process of looking for a new job, but unless I get some relief, that will be difficult for me. If you don't mind, I have a couple questions based on your story. What were the big changes in your diet that you think improved your dry eye symptoms? Regarding Scleral lenses, I read that, although the the design will keep moisture on the eyeball, it does not necessarily help with the dryness on the outside of the lens. Can you please comment on how you dealt with that? Finally, I have heard about Autologous serum tears for years, but when I bring it up to my dry eye doctor, he thinks the benefit you get is not different from a good OTC drop, and it's much more expensive. Can you please tell me how much these drops cost, and where you go to get it processed? Do you feel as though they are better than other drops?

My eye doctor suggested I try "bandage" contact lenses first before Sclerals to see if that improves my condition. He said some of his dry eye patients really like these. I'm seeing an OD he recommended that does both in 2 weeks.

Thanks again, and I'm so grateful for feedback from you, and everyone who participates on this site.

[Hokucat]

I have different underlying conditions than you, so what helps me may be different. My underlying conditions are likely Sjogren’s Syndrome (autoimmune disease that dries up moisture glands esp. in eyes and mouth), worsened by excessive computer use and long work commutes, which reduced blink rates leading to meibomian gland blockage.

The biggest diet changes that help my eyes are:

1)Drinking green tea with juice of a lemon slice and crushed/grated ginger. This made a noticeable difference for me within a week, possibly because it helped my autoimmune issues. However, I know of only four other people this helped, a couple were in this forum.

2)Eating a juicy piece of salmon or a good quality steak or filet mignon. For some reason I think the fatty oils in the salmon and the fat in filet mignon improves my meibum oils. Fish oil supplements do not have the same effect, so the protein also might be a factor.

3)Taking 3,000-6,000 mg of Flaxseed oil daily. I’ve run out of it a few times or have taken less, and noticed during that time my eyes were a lot drier, like my top eyelid would kind of stick to my eyeball.

4)Eating enough foods with potassium, like bananas, oranges, butternut squash, dried prunes, etc. Potassium is a key component of tear film and helps maintain tear film thickness. I found my system does not absorb potassium that well, so I need to eat more foods with it than the average person to keep my potassium levels within the middle normal range.

5)Drinking water throughout the day.

6)Limiting refined sugars, pasta and bread. My eyes are almost always drier the day after I’ve eaten too much of these.

Yes, sclerals do not help with dryness on outside of lens. Plus if your sclera (white part of eye) that the lens edge sits on is extremely dry, it could cause so much discomfort you may not be able to tolerate the lenses. That’s what happened to me several months after I first started wearing my lenses, my entire eyeball including sclera was bone dry so couldn’t wear lenses anymore. But once I got a thin tear film back, my sclera could tolerate the lenses better but outside the lenses was of course still somewhat dry. I would periodically put a few drops of PF artificial tears above and below the lens edges while wearing them to help with this.

OTC PF artificial tears provide temporary lubrication which is definitely needed, but that’s not so much the main purpose of serum tears. Serum tears have similar components of natural tears that help maintain and promote a healthy eye surface and healing. Use of both at the same time can be beneficial vs. using one vs. another.

The cost of serum tears varies depending where you get it, how often you need to put the drops in, the quantity made, etc. I don’t know where you live, but in my experience it has cost anywhere from ~$300-$450. Your doctor may know where to get them, but if not, any eye doctor can register to prescribe serum tears online through Vital Tears. This service has you get your blood drawn locally, then it is shipped frozen to their facility to make the serum tears, and shipped back to you on dry ice. The entire process is less than a week.

[Cissou]

Bonjour, les lentilles sclerales peuvent vraiment vous aider. Cela protège les cornées également. Il existe un nouveau traitement pour les glandes de meibomus, c'est le qmr, l'avez vous essayé ? Je l'ai essayé avec la lumière pulsėe et cela a amélioré ma fonction meibomienne.

[Hokucat]

I have different underlying conditions, so what helps me may be different. My underlying conditions are likely Sjogren’s Syndrome (autoimmune disease that dries up moisture glands esp. in eyes and mouth), worsened by excessive computer use and long work commutes, which reduced blink rates leading to meibomian gland blockage.

The biggest diet changes that help my eyes are:

1)Drinking green tea with juice of a lemon slice and crushed/grated ginger. This made a noticeable difference for me within a week, possibly because the anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, and antibacterial properties helped my underlying autoimmune issues. However, I know of only four other people this helped, a couple were in this forum.

2)Eating a juicy piece of salmon or periodically a good quality steak or filet mignon. For some reason I think the fatty oils in the salmon and the fat in filet mignon improves my oil quality. Fish oil supplements do not have the same effect, so the protein also might be a factor.

3)Taking 3,000-6,000 mg of Flaxseed oil daily. I’ve run out of it a few times or have taken less, and noticed during that time my eyes were a lot drier, like my top eyelid would kind of stick to my eyeball.

4)Eating enough foods with potassium, like salmon, bananas, oranges, butternut squash, dried prunes, etc. Potassium is a key component of tear film and helps maintain tear film thickness. I found my system does not absorb potassium that well, so I need to eat more foods with it than the average person to keep my potassium levels at least in the middle normal range.

5)Drinking water throughout the day.

6)Limiting refined sugars, pasta and bread. My eyes are almost always drier the day after I’ve eaten too much of these.


Yes, sclerals do not help with dryness on your sclera (white part of eye). Plus if your sclera where the lens edge sits on is extremely dry, it could cause so much discomfort you may not be able to tolerate the lenses. That’s what happened to me several months after I first started wearing my lenses, my entire eyeball including sclera was bone dry so couldn’t wear lenses anymore. But once I got a thin tear film back, my sclera could tolerate the lenses better, but outside the lenses was still somewhat dry. I would periodically put a few drops of PF artificial tears above and below the lens edges to help with this.


OTC PF artificial tears provide temporary lubrication and relief which is definitely needed, but that’s not so much the main purpose of serum tears. Serum tears have similar components of natural tears that help maintain and promote a healthy eye surface and healing. Use of both at the same time can be beneficial vs. using one vs. another.

The cost of serum tears varies depending where you get it, how often you need to put drops in, quantity made, etc. I don’t know where you live, but in my experience it has cost anywhere from ~$300-$450. Your doctor may know where to get them, but if not, there’s at least one online serum tears provider any eye doctor can register to prescribe online. Don’t think I can post the name here, as I tried the other day and my entire response was flagged as spam. If you Google “autologous serum tears online”, the one I’ve used in the past has the initials “VT”. You have your blood drawn locally, then it is shipped frozen to their facility out-of-state to make the serum tears, then your serum tears vials are shipped to you on dry ice one-day shipping. The entire process usually takes less than a week.

Hope this was helpful.

[Rebecca Petris]

Hello,
if I get Scleral lenses, with they, in any way inhibit the natural healing process, to allow my eyes to hopefully naturally recover a bit from the heat lamp exposure? As of now, I am trying acupuncture in an effort to help this healing process along, but would like to consider Sclerals in order to hopefully immediately become a productive member of society.

Hi Keith,

Sorry for the, er, several month-belated reply. I think you would generally find that expert scleral lens providers would say the opposite - that the sclerals would accelerate healing. nothing like a constant saline bath and protection from environmental triggers.