So, tried out some scleral lenses. A few questions...

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CrippsCorner
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So, tried out some scleral lenses. A few questions...

Postby CrippsCorner » Mon 06 Feb 2017 11:02 am

After almost giving up thinking there was nothing to reduce the ghosting and general aberrations since my CXL, I decided to ask about scleral lenses at my next appointment as had heard positive things. At testing, to put it bluntly, they were brilliant. Ghosting reduced to almost nothing! A pretty remarkable moment really. So I took them away and have been testing them out over the weekend to see how I get on day to day.

They're definitely more comfortable than RGP lenses, but I'm still 'aware' them almost constantly... does this get easier? It was mentioned by my optometrist that sometimes having a hard(er) lens in one eye and not the other (where I have a soft lens) can make it feel a bit weirder.

They go through moments of brilliance. My test here was trying to read number plates at distance, which I can! But I have to concentrate, if that makes sense, it's almost like my eye has become slower to focus (maybe due to being the dormant eye for so long?)

As well as brilliance, they go through moments of being pretty terrible. Every now and then it's almost as if they completely cloud over, and makes my vision worse than ever... this can last a few minutes.

I know it's a weird one but my vision in my left eye is very good, bar the ghosting and clouding (from corneal haze) so... I don't actually have a prescription in this scleral lens at all. What's weird is that reading things close up is far worse than without having it in, but distance is better. Why?

I have to let my optometrist know how it went today, and if I want to proceed. I'm wondering if possibilities are to try a small prescription in it (I do have one in my glasses) or to try a scleral in my other eye to even out the feeling.

Thanks for any answers! Olly

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Re: So, tried out some scleral lenses. A few questions...

Postby Jules D » Mon 06 Feb 2017 4:13 pm

Hi
I'm new to the forum, just joined! Ive had sclerals for about 10 years and would highly recommend them. I am still aware that I have them in, but I suppose it's like having a hearing aid, the benefits outweigh the discomfort! I find that air conditioning makes a big difference and I can usually tell if I am in an air conditioned environment, as they become uncomfortable. At first I found it difficult not to get bubbles behind the lens and this leads to discomfort, but that rarely happens nowadays. So, I would say, persevere.

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Re: So, tried out some scleral lenses. A few questions...

Postby Lia Williams » Sat 11 Feb 2017 4:35 pm

Olly,

It's good to hear that you seem to have found a lens that has reduced the ghosting to almost nothing.

CrippsCorner wrote:Every now and then it's almost as if they completely cloud over, and makes my vision worse than ever... this can last a few minutes.


I wonder if this is due to a bubble getting behind the lens. I get a similar problem with my left RGP if I'm not careful when inserting it. I understand that it is more of a problem with sclerals. When I tried some mini scerals at the hospital a few years ago they made me lean over so that a lens full of saline went in my eye. The lenses didn't work for me - I hope that they work for you.

Lia

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Re: So, tried out some scleral lenses. A few questions...

Postby CrippsCorner » Wed 15 Feb 2017 10:37 am

Yes this is what I have, the mini ones. Now I've been leaving them in for longer (my optometrist said try up to 6 hours) I notice they can cloud up around the 4 or 5 hour period and that's it; they stay like that forever. I suppose I could take them out, clean them and refill and get them back in again, but it does seem a hassle if I have to do this everyday (maybe multiple times if I can get more wear out of them)

Has anyone else experienced this?

I've been wearing these for two weeks now and still have to 'focus' my eye for the vision to be useful. It's frustrating as if I cover my right eye, my left eye with the scleral has good vision... but when I use both eyes again, it kind of fades into the background and goes blurry again. I need my left eye to be working harder! I guess it's just not used to it having poor vision in that eye over the past couple of years?

If I can't ever get used to this I guess it's a no go, but maybe with time it'll improve, who knows.

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Re: So, tried out some scleral lenses. A few questions...

Postby CrippsCorner » Tue 21 Feb 2017 7:54 am

So turns out I'm getting blood vessels appearing under my eyelids :shock: so it's been recommended I don't wear these lenses for more than 5 hours per day. This is very unfortunate and to me kind of makes them pointless... if I can't get through a full days work (9 hours including travel) what's the point really? To have good vision for half the day, then poorer vision for the rest of it.

It's annoying as now I'm noticing the ghosting even more (probably because I know I can get rid of them)

The only recommendation my optometrist had was referring me to Moorfields as they might have different kinds of lenses that might be better for me, or maybe even trying hybrids.

Has anyone had luck with trying different scleral lenses (mainly to avoid the blood vessels) or are they basically all the same?

Thanks.

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Re: So, tried out some scleral lenses. A few questions...

Postby Minka_Lucy » Wed 22 Feb 2017 9:02 am

Hi. That sounds really frustrating! Scleral lenses should be giving you much better vision, and be more comfortable. After losing an rgp on my grafted eye I've got a scleral lens now. Some teething problems with fitting but my vision is way better and the lens is very comfortable.
You mention ghosting - if your lens gets cloudy after a while it could be because there's an air bubble in it causing some irritation. My lens make is Zen from the US. Don't settle for what you've got - got to be better lenses for you.

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Re: So, tried out some scleral lenses. A few questions...

Postby Lia Williams » Sun 26 Feb 2017 4:09 pm

CrippsCorner wrote:so it's been recommended I don't wear these lenses for more than 5 hours per day.


As you say five hours is not much use. What does one do for the rest of the day? And it must be particularly annoying for you as the lens has given you such great vision. Sometimes finding the best compromise of vision/comfort/wearing time takes ages to sort out.

Problems with blood vessels don't only occur with sclerals but when I started piggy backing I was monitored quite closely and lots of pretty pictures were drawn in my notes to monitor blood vessel growth - fortunately for me the problem went away.

As for hybrids I've yet to meet anyone who uses them. I did go to a talk recently explaining the recent developments with their design so they are likely to become more common. They were described to us as more comfortable than an RGP but not as comfortable as a soft lens.

If you are in easy reach of London you may find it useful to attend the next London meeting (18th March) as there will be plenty of time to talk to others about the different types of lenses they wear and the comprises they have had to make.

Lia

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Re: So, tried out some scleral lenses. A few questions...

Postby CrippsCorner » Tue 09 May 2017 11:18 am

Bit of a bump as I just had one more question regarding the scleral lenses... how are they for storage? Since being told that I cannot wear them for the whole day, I've just kept them in a spare lens container with the solution inside. I've changed this only once. Will it still be alright? Not sure if they're meant to be like RGP lenses and last for years.

Also, does anyone know about the blood vessels with hybrid lenses?

I'm currently waiting for another scleral lens (to try out in the other eye) but I'm still not sure about taking this further and going to Moorfields. I just think I might end up getting even more frustrated.

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Re: So, tried out some scleral lenses. A few questions...

Postby Lia Williams » Tue 09 May 2017 5:37 pm

CrippsCorner wrote:I've just kept them in a spare lens container with the solution inside. I've changed this only once. Will it still be alright? Not sure if they're meant to be like RGP lenses and last for years.


Moorfields have a leaflet on how to care for your scleral lenses which you might find useful to read:

http://www.moorfields.nhs.uk/sites/defa ... lenses.pdf

I believe that scleral lenses have a similar life to RGP corneal lenses. So it depends on how you look after them and whether or not you need a change of prescription.

What type of scleral do you have? The full scleral or the mini one? If you can't wear them for the whole day what are you doing for the rest of the time?

CrippsCorner wrote:I'm still not sure about taking this further and going to Moorfields. I just think I might end up getting even more frustrated.


I'm afraid contact lens fitting is a frustrating process both for the patient and the optometrist. Hopefully the new scleral for your other eye will work out well.

Lia

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Re: So, tried out some scleral lenses. A few questions...

Postby Haris » Tue 03 Mar 2020 4:21 am

CrippsCorner wrote:Yes this is what I have, the mini ones. Now I've been leaving them in for longer (my optometrist said try up to 6 hours) I notice they can cloud up around the 4 or 5 hour period and that's it; they stay like that forever. I suppose I could take them out, clean them and refill and get them back in again, but it does seem a hassle if I have to do this everyday (maybe multiple times if I can get more wear out of them)

Has anyone else experienced this?

I've been wearing these for two weeks now and still have to 'focus' my eye for the vision to be useful. It's frustrating as if I cover my right eye, my left eye with the scleral has good vision... but when I use both eyes again, it kind of fades into the background and goes blurry again. I need my left eye to be working harder! I guess it's just not used to it having poor vision in that eye over the past couple of years?

If I can't ever get used to this I guess it's a no go, but maybe with time it'll improve, who knows.


I'm having the exact same issue, just received my first scleral lens...

Whenever I cover my right eye I can see clearly, but when I open both eyes everything goes blurry :(

I wear a scleral lens on my left eye.

Did you find out what was causing this issue?
Really frustrated :(


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