UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

I have moderate keratoconus in both eyes. My cones ride low below my corneas giving me manageable vision in glasses, but with awful ghosting, haloing, and starbursts that get worse at night. I first tried RGP lenses for 2 days and while vision improved, the ghosting and halos remained and the comfort was just awful.

I decided to fly to Texas and see Dr. Gemoules at Coppell Family Eye Care. After 8 business days with him, I return home with a set of lenses that give me 20/20 minus vision, without almost any ghosting, halos, or starbursts! The trip to see Dr. G won’t come cheap, but odds are you will walk away with a comfortable set of scleral lenses that dramatically reduce your aberrations and improve your vision. His staff will help you deal with your insurance, but they do not participate in some networks.

My lenses are not yet “perfect” and I will probably see Dr. G again to fine tune them further to get perfect 20/20 vision. To compare them to my glasses or RGP’s is like night and day. Just having the ghosting and starbursts gone is amazing. I honestly did not think I would ever solve that problem, but Dr. G was able to get rid of close to 85% of my aberrations. I do miss a few letters on the 20/20 line, but vision is sharper than I remember it being in a long time and the lenses are very comfortable, thanks to Dr. G’s many years of experience treating post-surgical eyes.

The secret to Dr. G’s results is his own patented process for fitting lenses using custom CAD design vs the traditional trial lens model. This allows him to get excellent fit and vision. He then uses Wavefront technology within the contact lens to reduce higher order aberrations. I suspect Dr. G is an engineer at heart and a doctor by trade. If you want to explore one of the most innovative contact lens guru’s out there who is likely to get you results, I strongly recommend exploring Dr. G before you consider a more expensive option like the Boston Foundation for Sight.

I got my sclera's on the NHS and they cost me the standard charge of (then) £48. I have no complaints about fit, oxygenation, vision or cost.

I've never tried these kind of lenses, my optometrist has never even mentioned them... do you think they're worth a go for me? I'm similar to the OP in that I have moderate keratoconus in both eyes (now with the worst one cross-linked) and get 'okay' vision from both glasses and soft lenses but with a hell of a lot of double vision, ghosting and glare. Obviously, getting rid of all that horrible stuff would be incredible.

Looks like another vote for this wave-front technology though, I hope it makes it over to these shores.

I can tell you that for me these lenses eliminated almost all the glare, halo, ghosting. I could have explored other, less expensive alternatives first, but I realized the minute I put standard RGP's in my eyes that the ghosting and haloing was here to stay. I figured I have limited time on this Earth and I simply cannot afford to spend months trying different options, so I went to the best right away. Everyone's KC is different and some people do better with some lenses than others. I know from my own experience that really bad halo and ghosting can be nearly impossible to get rid of, but Dr. G did it for me.

It looks like Wavefront really is the solution to ghosting and haloing, but it is not an easy thing to do. For me it took 11 different set of lenses over 8 days to bring my aberrations down to normal levels. The technology is absolutely amazing, but It's new and there are only a handful of docs out there who really know how to use it. Dr. G is probably one of the best, if not the best, in North America.

Hi there.

I can concur with "airlinedreams" success and can advocate the Laserfit sclerals.

I too visited Texas had excellent results from Laserfit Lenses. My previous aberrations and halos have been eliminated and my vision with theses lenses is superb. Better than 20/20 in both eyes. In addition, I can drive at night again very happily which I have virtually given up on and has not been close to achievable with any of the myriad lenses I have tried over the years. The optics in these scleral lenses in my opinion are simply the best available, anywhere period.

For anyone interested in exploring these lenses, the Laserfit website address is http://laserfitlens.com

Kind regards,
Stella

This thread is beginning to read like an advert - please do look again at the terms and conditions of this forum. And while we do have forum users from overseas, this is a UK forum, so it's not likely that many of our users can fly off to Texas!
Hopefully, wavefront technology will become available in the UK before too long.
Anne

Its really not my intention for it to read like an advert. Its to share with others success I have personally achieved. I would think that KC users in the UK would appreciate any feedback on any technology which may help them regardless of whether its in the UK or located abroad. I think they would also appreciate information on exploring/researching that option should they be able to travel. Especially if they have not yet found perfect resolution and have exhausted local UK options. When/if wavefront technology combined with OCT derived lenses is available and mature in the UK - then KC patients will obviously choose this option. Until then this thread is highly relevant. IMHO

Thanks for the generous testimonials. I hope it convinces some that the technology is real and available today...not in the distant future.