Clinical Research Directory

Wavefront Guided Scleral Lenses for Keratoconus and Irregular Astigmatism

Aberrations are the spreading of light from a point focus. Aberrations of the eyes can be objectively evaluated with a wavefront aberrometer. Lower order aberrations such as defocus and astigmatism can be corrected with glasses and traditional/disposable soft contact lenses. Patients with ectatic corneal disease, such as keratoconus, or irregular astigmatism cause by surgery, trauma or disease, experience vision that is unlikely to be adequately corrected with glasses or disposable soft contact lenses due to higher order aberrations (HOA). HOA's cause halos, flare, glare, starbursts, doubling, smearing or ghosting of vision. Specialty contact lenses, such as scleral lenses, can be used to mask the irregularity of the cornea, reducing HOA's and improving vision. In many patients the resultant vision, though improved, still has some level of residual HOA's affecting the quality of vision. Custom scleral lenses with customized wavefront guided optics can be used to reduce residual HOA's and improve vision further. These lenses have been referred to as higher order aberration correcting scleral lenses or HOA correcting sclerals and wavefront guided scleral lenses or WFG sclerals.