SPECIALIST LENSES
With our vast experience in fitting contact lenses to patients with complex requirements at a number of NHS Hospital Clinics for many years, our optometrists are experienced in fitting specialist lenses for various conditions including Keratoconus, PMD (pellucid marginal degeneration), Aphakia, Post-graft (keratoplasty) and post-surgery (Lasik /Lasek), Albinism, Nystagmus and prosthetic lenses.
KERATOCONUS AND IRREGULAR CORNEA
We have a particular interest and expertise in Keratoconus. The founder of the practice Tony Shephard devoted his professional life to developing contact lenses to correct Keratoconus and other corneal irregularities. He wrote various papers and lectured home and overseas on Keratoconus.
Our optometrists Ali Akay and Elanor Turnbull have several years of experience working with Tony Shephard, and see Keratoconic patients on a regular basis.
We use a vast range of specialist Keratoconus lenses including Acuity AK corneal lenses; Kerasoft, KIC, Acuity Soft K, Novakone and Rose K2 Soft Keratoconus lenses; SO2 Clear, Comfort 15 and Scotlens KCS corneoscleral lenses; Synergeyes family of hybrid lenses; Scotlens Easy Scleral, ICD and Zenlens mini scleral lenses.
Corneal topography (mapping) chart of a typical Keratoconic cornea. The red area shows the area of steepening and thinning from Keratoconus.
We are members of the UK Keratoconus Self Help and Support Association and we are on their list of Keratoconus Friendly Optometrists.
POST SURGERY LENSES
There is no doubt that laser eye surgery (LASIK, LASEK, PRK, SMILE) and other forms of refractive surgery (RK, AK, CLE, IOL) has revolutionised the lives of many people. However, sometimes the outcome may not be as good as expected for various reasons, or there may be regression over a period of time whereby the effect reduces and the person needs to wear glasses or contact lenses to be able to see clearly.
If the person prefers to wear contact lenses, or glasses don’t provide clear vision, it can be quite challenging to get contact lenses giving optimum vision and comfort. This is due to the fact that the shape of the front surface of the eye (cornea) is very different following laser eye surgery. In a normal cornea (A), the shape is “prolate” where the cornea is steepest in the centre and flattens towards the edge. Laser eye surgery works by flattening the central portion of the cornea, and the resultant shape is “oblate” where the centre of the cornea is actually flatter than the edge as shown below (B).
Prolate cornea before laser eye surgery
Oblate cornea after laser eye surgery
As conventional contact lenses are designed for “normal” eyes, getting a satisfactory fit may require precision custom made lenses. We use the state of the art Medmont corneal topographer (shown above) to help us design customised lenses for post-surgery patients.
Other conditions benefiting from custom made lenses include pellucid marginal degeneration (PMD), post-keratoplasty (corneal transplant), and high astigmatism where conventional lenses do not provide sufficient clarity.