UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

I've been wearing scleral lenses for about 8 months without any problems. I can usually wear them about 9 hours without any discomfort, at which point I would rest my eyes for an hour then wear them again for 3 hours or so. In total the wear time would be around 12 hours and rest time 12 hours including sleep.

However, suddenly overnight about a month ago I started getting tension in my forehead which would then travel down to my temples and gums after about 1-2 hours of wearing the sclerals. It has become intolerable and I can no longer take 6 aspirins a day to handle the headaches.

Went to see the optometrist who said that my prescription has not changed. She also mentioned that the fitting was "optimal", although I doubt this to be honest. I'm worried that the only solution I have is now no longer an option. Does anyone have any idea what is going on? Is it possible to develop an intolerance to these lenses and for it to suddenly happen overnight? I can remember the exact day that this began and it has been constant, every day since. The tension and headaches stop about an hour or so after removing the lenses.

Thanks in advance for any information.

I have developed an intolerance to my scleral but I never had symptoms like you are describing.

The fact that is clearly linked with lens wear means something is not right though.

Why do you say - only solution no longer an option? Go for soft contact lenses. Vision quality of soft contact lenses may not be as good as scleral, but you won't feel any discomfort or have side effects. Try toric lenses first and then spherical and see which one work better.

I had increasing pain when wearing scleral lenses - felt like it was in my sinuses - until one of the Optomotrists at Moorfields spotted that the edge of the lenses were restricting blood flow in the small capillaries in my eye. The lenses had otherwise looked like a good fit and he said that they would have been asymptomatic in most people. He took impression moulds of my eyes and created ‘impression scleral lenses’ from them. I have had no problems with headaches since then.