Scleral contacts

Scleral lenses are another option for those who can't wear regular contacts. Scleral lenses can often be worn even by those with dry eye, conjuctivitis and corneal irregularities. Scleral lenses are larger than regular contacts. They rest on the less sensitive whites of your eyes and dome out over the cornea to avoid touching the more sensitive cornea. They can be fenestrated, or contain an imbedded saline solution which makes for extreme comfort. They are fitted using corneal mapping, on a computer, which takes a unique image of your corneas tiny bumps, pleateaus and crevices, which regular contact fittings do not. This is done to ensure a perfect fit and to make sure they don't move around. Less movement makes scleral contacts more comfortable under your eyelids, for those with blepharitis. Because of this, scleral lenses are harder to manufacture and cost about $300. But isn't it worth it to be able to wear contacts again?
Scleral contact
Here is my personal story. Come along for my journey, this is really the beginning since I just made an appointment today to get a fitting for scleral lenses at an optomotrist's office. My appointment is on Friday at noon.

Here is my history. I have needed glasses since I was ten, at least the school did an eye test and told my mom my eyes were bad at that age. So she got me glasses and I wore them until I was fourteen. I had to be very careful about not breaking them so I was a nerdy and bookish kid; instead of playing sports, I simply avoided them. This surely affected my self esteem and the way I am today. Especially since a male school chum told me I looked like "a librarian." I pictured myself as the sort of frustrated girl who would never get a date, intelligent but ugly like Daphne off Scooby Doo or America Ferrerra off Ugly Betty. I got contacts at fourteen and wore them until I was twenty at which point I began working as a CNA in a nursing home and contracted a staph infection from one of the patients. I noticed those old people had crusty, yellow eyes so I tried to wash my hands a lot but somehow I must have not been careful enough and the infection got under my contacts leaving me with chronic blepharitis, conjuctivitis and dry eye. A chilazion was removed from my eyelid two weeks after I first noticed the pain. I thought my problems would be solved after the chilazion was gone but I found out blepharitis is a lifelong disease. The infection also gave me dry eye and conjuctivis, both manageable but permanent side effects. I tried Restasis, which helped a little and my doctor seemed to think I had a bacterial infection so he gave me steroids to control the inflammation which did nothing, proving my infection is viral and chronic, like AIDS. From the time I was fourteen til twenty, I wore regular contacts. I had been able to participate in sports and look pretty without my glasses. I felt confident in contacts, I was used to my regular contacts. But due to my infection, enlarged blood vessels and dry eyes, regular contacts felt extremely uncomfortable and I could not wear them again. I went back to glasses but felt I had no peripheral vision in them, plus they slide down your nose and are uncomfortable.

So I thought I'd give scleral lenses a try because I heard that even people who can't wear other contact lenses and even people with eye problems can wear them. So...The fitting's on Friday. I'll let you know how scleral lenses work for me.