Scleral Lenses

Troy Thomas was blinded from Stevens-Johnson Syndrome from 1990 until August 2004. Troy is shown standing next to his beautiful bride Shay while holding up his Florida driver's license and standing next to his new car. His corrected visual acuity with his scleral lens is 20/20.

Stevens-Johnson patient Tiffany with her new scleral lens. Tiffany now has functional vision for the first time in 6 years.

Scleral lenses are a unique type of lens designed to treat a variety of eye conditions which do not respond to any other type of therapy. The new generation of scleral lenses being used today are made from a highly oxygen permeable polymer and are unique in that they are fit onto and supported by the sclera (the white portion of the eye).

Because these lenses vault over the compromised cornea and fit under the eyelids, they are extremely comfortable and are almost never dislodged accidentally.

The space between the front of the cornea and the back surface of the scleral lens is filled with artificial tears. This liquid reservoir fills in the surface irregularities of the cornea allowing vision to be restored in a comfortable manner. The lens and the fluid liquid bandage beneath it protect the cornea from exposure to air and the rubbing effects of blinking. This cushion of fluid beneath the lens also provides oxygen to the cornea allowing the eye to heal. The effect is to create a smooth optical surface over the diseased cornea that replaces the distorted surface to improve vision often dramatically.

Our unique proprietary scleral lenses can replace the need for corneal transplant surgery which has a potential for serious complications, long healing period and uncertain visual outcome. When corneal transplant surgery fails, our lens designs can enable patients to recover lost vision. In other words, these unique lenses provide a non-surgical means of restoring lost vision and act in a therapeutic manner.

Over the years, many patients have come to our office seeking relief from the following devastating vision and ocular disorders: keratoconus, corneal ectasia resulting from lasik, post refractive surgical complications, distorted corneal transplants, Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, Sjogren’s Syndrome, corneal degenerations and dystrophies, eyelid abnormalities, chemical and burn injuries to the eye, aniridia, and pellucid degeneration. Scleral lenses have been the therapy of choice in treating all of these conditions with an extremely high rate of success.

The scleral lens is in fact a medical, therapeutic device that can be fitted to virtually any eye shape and for any degree of visual error while allowing the diseased/injured eye to heal.

The following are photos of some of my patients with various eye conditions who have benefited from scleral lenses: