New Scleral Lenses Help Patients with Keratoconus

Aug. 1, 2014 - PRLog -- Dr. Nathan Schramm "Dr. Eyes" and Dr. Julie Abraham of Fort Lauderdale, FL just returned from and lectured about "Advances in Optimizing Vision in Patients with Keratoconus" at the July 27-28, 2014 annual educational conference International Congress on Surface Ablation, Femto-laser and Crosslinking in Deer Valley, Utah organized by William Trattler, MD and others.

Julie Abraham, OD of Natural Eyes of Weston presented a case

http://youtu.be/KbyJL-diRX4



about a patient that has been depressed for several years because he was told in the past that he has a "lazy eye" and "nothing can be done."  He was sad that he can no longer see people's faces and has a difficult time watching his favorite sport, basketball.

Turns out he had a corneal disease called keratoconus.

Keratoconus is a progressive eye disease that thins the cornea and causes astigmatism. Without treatment a person can sometimes go blind. In this case, the patient was already 20/200 in his right eye and did not meet the legal requirement to drive with either eye, even with glasses.

He was fit in a scleral lens and his vision improved to almost 20/20 in the right eye and 20/20 in the left eye. He almost started to cry because he knew he'd be able to see his newborn daughter's face clearly for the first time.

Nathan Schramm, OD, CNS of Natural Eyes of Weston discussed two cases


http://youtu.be/HzOOymONuZY

in which he restored his 46 year old patient's quality of life by improving his vision and comfort. The first patient had several operations to stabilize his keratoconus but he still had a great deal of astigmatism and could only see 20/80 with glasses and his hybrid contact lenses were very uncomfortable to wear more than three hours, but gave him 20/30. Dr. Schramm changed him into scleral contact lenses and greatly improved his comfort and visual acuity to 20/20.

The other case was a young male that suffered from blindness due to keratoconus. He came to the office with a sighted guide and his head held low. After fitting him with sclerals, he is back in school, is able to drive, and has his independence.

Drs. Schramm and Abraham also postulated about future treatment options for scleral lenses.

Organizers of the congress were doctors Marguerite McDonald, MD, Ron Krueger, MD, George Waring IV, MD, Richard Yee MD, William Trattler, MD and other eye doctors presented on a variety of corneal topics but collagen crosslinking, its impact on public health and new methods for retarding keratoconus in adults and children were the top priority.