Scleral lenses are revolutionizing eye care by providing comfort for those facing various vision challenges. Custom-fitted to your unique eye shape, these lenses ensure clarity and hydration.
Scleral lenses are custom-designed to match the unique mapping of your eye. By resting on the sclera (the white part of the eye) instead of the cornea, they create a liquid-filled “shield” that continuously cushions and hydrates the surface beneath. Key advantages include:
Scleral lenses offer a versatile solution for people with a wide variety of vision challenges. By vaulting over the cornea and resting on the sclera, they provide continuous moisture, reduced friction, and exceptional stability. Below are the major groups and conditions that often find success with scleral lenses:
Challenges: Conditions like keratoconus, pellucid marginal degeneration, corneal scarring, or Terrien’s marginal degeneration create uneven corneal surfaces. This irregular shape can make standard lenses painful or ineffective, causing fluctuating vision and irritation throughout the day.
Why Scleral Lenses Help: Whether it’s keratoconus (conical cornea), pellucid marginal degeneration (thinning at the lower cornea), corneal scarring, or Terrien’s marginal degeneration, scleral lenses vault over these distorted or thinned areas and fill the gap with a fluid reservoir. This reservoir effectively masks surface irregularities and provides a smooth refractive surface, reducing the discomfort and fluctuating vision common with standard lenses.
Challenges: Post-LASIK ectasia, corneal transplants, radial keratotomy (RK), and other surgeries—or injuries that scar or alter the cornea—can leave the eye with unpredictable shapes and heightened sensitivity. Traditional lenses may not fit well, cause ongoing discomfort, or put harmful pressure on healing tissue.
Why Scleral Lenses Help: In cases like post-LASIK ectasia or post-RK (radial keratotomy), where the cornea has been weakened or reshaped, scleral lenses accommodate and protect the altered surface. After corneal transplants (e.g., post-keratoplasty) or penetrating keratoplasty (PK), they minimize pressure and improve vision by correcting uneven curves. For post-injury eyes, the fluid layer cushions sensitive tissue, promoting healing and comfort while providing excellent visual acuity.
Challenges: Autoimmune conditions (e.g., Sjögren’s syndrome), severe inflammatory disorders (SJS, GVHD), and chronic dryness (aqueous-deficient, meibomian gland dysfunction) all reduce tear film quality and quantity. This makes wearing normal lenses painful or nearly impossible due to constant friction and irritation.
Why Scleral Lenses Help: When conditions like Sjögren’s syndrome, Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS), graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), or neurotrophic keratitis deplete tears or damage the ocular surface, scleral lenses lock in moisture behind their dome-like shape. They compensate for severely diminished tear production (aqueous-deficient dry eye) and help stabilize oil layer issues (like in meibomian gland dysfunction), preventing the painful friction and dryness typical of regular contact lenses.
Challenges: Systemic diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, scleroderma, and severe allergies can significantly impact tear production and ocular surface health. Chronic inflammation, dryness, and hypersensitivity often lead to discomfort, redness, and reduced wear time with standard lenses.
Why Scleral Lenses Help: Disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and scleroderma often cause chronic inflammation and dryness that degrade tear quality. Scleral lenses establish a controlled, hydrating environment over the cornea, significantly reducing dryness and irritation. Even for severe allergy sufferers, the lens’s large vault can act as a barrier against environmental allergens, helping maintain clearer, more comfortable vision.
Challenges: Patients with moderate to high myopia, hyperopia, or astigmatism frequently experience lens instability, reduced visual clarity, or discomfort with traditional lenses. High or complex prescriptions may cause excessive lens movement or distorted vision, resulting in unreliable vision correction.
Why Scleral Lenses Help: In cases of pronounced astigmatism, as well as very high myopia or hyperopia, scleral lenses offer superior stability because they do not rely on the corneal curvature for fit. By evenly distributing pressure on the sclera, these lenses eliminate lens rotation and deliver consistent, sharp vision, making them ideal for those who find traditional lenses inadequate for extreme prescriptions.
Challenges: Eyes affected by chemical burns, recurrent corneal erosions, and persistent epithelial defects are prone to chronic discomfort, scarring, and ongoing inflammation. These conditions often make corneal lenses painful and risk further damage if the lens rubs or dries out the compromised tissue.
Why Scleral Lenses Help: For patients recovering from chemical burns, battling recurrent corneal erosions, or dealing with persistent epithelial defects, scleral lenses protect compromised tissue and encourage healing. The fluid layer cushions the cornea, reduces mechanical friction from blinking, and maintains a moist surface—key factors in minimizing pain and promoting tissue repair.
Challenges: Whether due to scarring, abnormal lid structure, or laxity, significant eyelid irregularities can continually disrupt traditional contact lenses. Chronic dryness, poor lens stability, and discomfort are common when the lids interact improperly with a corneal or small-diameter lens.
Why Scleral Lenses Help: Scleral lenses sit on the less sensitive sclera, so conditions like entropion or ectropion do not push or pull the lens off-center. Inward-turned lids (entropion) and outward-turned lids (ectropion) can cause friction or dryness with typical lenses, but scleral lenses remain stable. For ptosis (drooping eyelid) or floppy eyelid syndrome, the lens’s large diameter and scleral support help it stay in place, reducing discomfort and corneal exposure.
Challenges: High-intensity sports, dusty or windy job environments, and prolonged focus requirements (e.g., pilots, drivers) can cause lens dryness, displacement, or contamination. Regular lenses may not withstand the extreme conditions or rapid movements, leading to fluctuating vision and discomfort.
Why Scleral Lenses Help: For sports participants or first responders in dusty, windy, or high-impact settings, scleral lenses offer excellent stability and reduce the chance of lens dislodgment. Their large diameter and fluid reservoir also guard against dryness and debris, ensuring dependable vision. Pilots and drivers benefit from the consistent hydration in low-humidity or air-conditioned environments, allowing them to maintain clear focus for extended periods.
Challenges: Individuals with contact lens intolerance, long screen exposure, or frequent travel in low-humidity environments (like airplane cabins) often encounter dryness and irritation. Standard lenses can become uncomfortable or cause redness after extended wear, reducing productivity and quality of life.
Why Scleral Lenses Help: Scleral designs often succeed where standard contact lenses fail, particularly for those with contact lens intolerance or jobs that involve long screen hours (reducing blink rates) or frequent air travel (low humidity). By maintaining a continuous fluid cushion over the cornea, scleral lenses significantly reduce dryness, irritation, and lens awareness, leading to improved comfort and visual performance throughout the day.
Find a top optometrist near you who specializes in scleral lenses to improve your vision and comfort today.
The process of determining if you are a good candidate for scleral lenses involves several important steps. During your fitting session, our eye doctors will utilize advanced diagnostic equipment to map your cornea's shape in detail and evaluate the dimensions of your eye. This helps in choosing the right lens design and size specifically for you.
Follow-up appointments are equally important, as they allow our eye doctors to monitor how well your eyes are adapting to the lenses and to make any necessary tweaks to improve both comfort and effectiveness.
This detailed evaluation is what sets scleral lenses apart from other contact lens options. By tailoring the lens to the exact shape and needs of your eye, our eye doctors can provide a level of personalization that meets both your functional vision needs and your comfort requirements.
Find a top optometrist near you who specializes in scleral lenses to improve your vision and comfort today.
Scleral lenses offer a comfortable solution for various vision challenges, ensuring clear sight and eye comfort.
