There are many patients who had radial keratotomy (RK) surgery in the 1990's. This was a procedure that was used to correct refractive error, but safer methods such as LASIK now take its place.
RK involved the surgeon using a small knife (scalpel) and cutting the outer edge of the cornea, to create a flatter surface in the center. This flatter surface creates a unique area in the center of the eye, allowing for clear vision without glasses or contacts.
However, as time has gone on, we have seen many complications from RK surgery. These include issues such as blurry vision, distorted vision, shadowy vision, double vision, and fluctuating vision. For these patients, scleral lenses can provide a huge amount of relief.
Our patient today had RK surgery performed in both eyes in the 1990's. He had good vision until a few years ago, when it started to go downhill. He currently wears glasses, but it is a very high prescription with a lot of astigmatism.
He found out about scleral lenses while searching for other options on how to improve vision with RK scarring. With a diagnostic scleral lens, he was able to achieve 20/20 vision in each eye with much less distortion!
He was also thrilled with the comfort of the lenses. He used to wear corneal gas permeable lenses years ago, but stopped wearing them due to the discomfort of the lenses.
Scleral lenses are much more comfortable than traditional gas permeable lenses, due to the shape of the lens and the new technology.
We are so excited to see how his dispense goes!
