Scleral mapping involves special instruments that have the ability to 3D scan the eye in real time.
The process is simple and painless, patients simply look into the machine at a light source.
Then, the camera takes a very precise image capture. We repeat this having the patient look in different directions. This allows the camera to capture all of the structures of the eye including the cornea, the limbus, and the scleral shape.
The result is a 3 D image of the entire eyeball:
This photo documents areas of the eye that are very low (like a valley), represented in dark blue, as well as areas that are very high (like a mountain) in red.
The information gained from this technology is used to create a custom scleral lens.
The custom lens uses the 3D image created at the visit along with special computer software.
The result is a perfectly fit scleral lens, contoured to match the patient's exact eye shape.
In this patient, you can see he has a raised area on the white part of the left eye:
This area is higher than the rest of the white part of the eye, and we will need to account for this when designing his scleral lens.
You can see that the 3D scan of his eye shows this elevated area as a red spot on the map. The lab will use this information to make sure the lens is contoured over this area of the eye.
This technology is amazing, and has given us the ability to design 3D scleral lenses for patients.
This allows for maximum comfort and vision compared to standard scleral lenses. It has helped thousands of patients achieve superior results, and we are lucky to offer this technology to our patients.
