What Are Specialty Contact Lenses?
Specialty contact lenses are different than standard contact lenses. Standard contact lenses are the types of lenses that most people wear. Most of your friends and family probably wear soft contact lenses. Specialty contact lenses are contact lenses that are created and fabricated using custom measurements of your specific eyes. These lenses are used to treat eye disorders, vision problems, and to correct cosmetic issues. The doctor who is able to fit these special contacts usually has special training, education, or certifications. The clinic also has special instruments and machines that are necessary to gather important information about your specific eyes to create a custom lens.
Types of Lenses
Specialty contact lens types typically fall into four categories:
- Soft specialty lenses are comfortable to wear, and can be designed to help with higher prescriptions. For mild cases, this is a great option.
- Rigid GP (gas permeable) specialty contact lenses are made of harder, longer-lasting material, and they are used to correct more advanced conditions.
- Hybrid lenses combine the best of both worlds— a hard lens in the middle to provide superior optics, but soft on the edges to help with comfort and centration.
- Scleral lenses are larger and cover more than just your cornea, extending well over the whites of your eyes—the sclera. This lens is a fantastic option for many of our patients. Because the edges of the lens are tucked under the eye lids, the lens does not move on the eye, resulting in excellent comfort. Scleral lenses have given us the ability to help even the most severe corneal and ocular conditions.
Benefits of Specialty Contact Lenses: Solving Special Problems
Specialty contact lenses can do more than correct vision. They can be used to treat certain conditions, such as dry eye, graft-vs-host disease, and more. Since the bowl of the scleral lens is filled with liquid, that liquid rests on the surface of the eye all day, which can help heal damaged spots on the front surface of the eye. In many cases, they can dramatically improve vision in patients with diseases like keratoconus and pellucid marginal degeneration. They can correct sight problems causes by injuries and congenital problems. Lastly, they can provide cosmetic benefits for those with damaged eyes.
Who Can Most Benefit from Specialty Contact Lenses?
People dealing with the following conditions are prime candidates for specialty contact lenses:
- Keratoconus: Specialty contact lenses create a smooth optical surface, resulting in excellent vision for keratoconus patients. Many of our patients regain vision that they have not had in 10 or more years!
- Corneal transplant: The surface of the cornea can become irregular after surgery, a condition that specialty contact lenses can alleviate.
- Refractive surgery: After vision correction surgery (such as LASIK, PRK, or RK), specialty contact lenses can help create a smooth optical surface and improve visual acuity as well as fluctuating vision.
- Dry Eyes: Specialty contact lenses keep the cornea bathed in tears by providing a barrier between the surface of your eyes and the outside world. Scleral lenses can help repair damaged portions of your cornea and other structures of your eyes.
- Corneal scaring: Scar tissue can develop on your cornea due to diseases, injuries, and surgeries. Custom-fitted and designed lenses can counteract the visual debilitation caused.
- Ocular trauma or aniridia: Damage to the eye can have many causes and can affect the cornea, conjunctiva, iris, lens, and retina. An irregular iris, called aniridia also has functional and cosmetic impacts. Specialty contact lenses can help with both how you see and how you look.
- Myopia: Beyond needing to see better, patients with myopia are at risk for eye diseases such as glaucoma, macular degeneration, and retinal detachments If treated early enough, many of these complications can be prevented. Specialty contact lenses such as orthokeratology, soft multifocal lenses, low dose atropine therapy, and MiSight lenses can help slow down the progression of myopia.
- Irregular astigmatism. For people who cannot be helped by glasses or regular contact lenses, specialty contact lenses are an effective alternative.
- Pediatric conditions. Early intervention can support proper eye development and prevent or delay a wide variety of problems. Among these are congenital cataracts aphakia, amblyopia, strabismus, and others.
Why Contact Lens Institute of Nevada for Specialty Contact Lenses?
We are highly proficient in managing specialty contact lenses. Our experience spans a wide variety of conditions and applications. We have created customized contact lens solutions for thousands of patients. There is truly no substitute for experience.
We bring you the most innovative contact lens technologies for results that are unattainable with conventional methods. Our doctors are opinion leaders within the field of specialty contact lenses, working with leading specialty contact lens manufacturers in developing advanced emerging technologies. We are proud to offer technology that no other doctors have in the entire state of Nevada.
We know eye care isn’t just about technology, but is about you as a person. Expect one-on-one attention with the doctor at every single visit. We are committed to giving you the highest level of service to create an unparalleled patient experience.
