Keratoconus can make clear, stable vision difficult to achieve with ordinary glasses or contact lenses. As the cornea becomes more irregular, a more customized approach to vision correction may be needed.
Pacific Eye Care provides scleral contact lens evaluations and fittings for patients with keratoconus, using detailed measurements to design a lens fit around the individual shape of your eyes.
Keratoconus causes the cornea to become thinner and develop an increasingly irregular shape.
Because the cornea plays an important role in focusing light, this change can lead to irregular astigmatism, distorted vision, glare, and frequent prescription changes.
In earlier cases, glasses or conventional contact lenses may provide adequate correction. As the corneal shape becomes more irregular, specialty contact lenses may provide another option for improving vision.
Scleral lenses are larger rigid gas-permeable lenses that vault over the cornea rather than resting directly on its irregular surface.
The lens rests on the sclera, or white portion of the eye, while a reservoir of preservative-free saline fills the space between the lens and cornea.
Together, the fluid reservoir and smooth front surface of the lens create a more regular optical surface. For appropriate keratoconus patients, this can provide clearer and more stable vision than glasses or conventional lenses.
Keratoconus can create irregularities that ordinary glasses cannot fully compensate for. A scleral lens creates a smooth optical surface over the irregular cornea, which may improve visual clarity and stability.
Rather than bearing directly on the cornea, scleral lenses are designed to vault over it and rest on the less sensitive scleral tissue.
For some keratoconus patients, this design can provide a more comfortable wearing experience than smaller rigid lenses.
Keratoconus does not affect every cornea in the same way. Scleral lenses can be customized using detailed measurements of your individual corneal and ocular surface shape.
This allows our optometrists to refine the lens fit based on your vision, comfort, and eye health.
Your fitting begins with a detailed evaluation of your vision, eye health, prescription, and corneal shape.
Corneal mapping and other measurements help us understand the irregularities of your cornea and select appropriate lens parameters. Trial lenses may then be evaluated on your eyes before customized lenses are ordered.
Once your lenses arrive, we assess their fit and vision and teach you how to insert, remove, fill, clean, and store them correctly.
Follow-up visits allow us to make adjustments when needed.
Scleral lenses correct the vision problems caused by an irregular cornea, but they do not stop keratoconus itself from progressing.
If testing shows that your keratoconus is changing, additional treatment such as corneal cross-linking may need to be discussed with an appropriate ophthalmic specialist.
Ongoing examinations remain important even when you are seeing well with your scleral lenses.
Scleral lenses may be worth considering if:
A specialty contact lens evaluation is the best way to determine whether scleral lenses are appropriate for your eyes.
Keratoconus can make vision correction more complicated, but your contact lenses can be designed around the unique shape of your eyes.
Pacific Eye Care provides corneal mapping, customized scleral lens fittings, and ongoing follow-up care for patients with keratoconus in Huntington Beach.
Learn how corneal cross-linking differs from specialty contact lenses and why it may be considered when keratoconus is progressing.
Learn about the role specialty lenses can play in vision correction for keratoconus and why surgical decisions require a separate evaluation of the underlying condition.
Learn how keratoconus changes the shape of the cornea, the symptoms it can cause, and how the condition is evaluated and monitored.
Explore how the size, design, fluid reservoir, and customized fit of scleral lenses can benefit patients with irregular corneas and other complex contact lens needs.