Lasik in 2007, Vision Worse with Retreatments, now 20/20 with GVR Scleral Lens

The patient standing next to me recently visited us from the Canary Islands seeking help in restoring vision to her right eye. In 2007, this patient underwent LASIK surgery in both eyes. When her vision began to fail she underwent another LASIK procedure in each eye in 2009. This 2nd procedure made the vision in her right eye worse. In 2010, this patient underwent photo refractive keratectomy (PRK) in her right eye in an attempt to restore the vision she lost from her previous surgeries. What resulted was additional vision loss and ocular pain. In early 2015, once again, in an attempt to improve the vision in her right eye this patient underwent a 4th surgery known as photo therapeutic keratectomy (PTK). The purpose of this last procedure was to smooth out the corneal irregularities and eliminate the corneal opacities created by her previous surgeries. What resulted from this last surgery was an additional reduction in her vision and a dramatic increase in her ocular pain. This patient visited 2 of the most respected eye institutions in Spain seeking help. The doctors at both University eye clinics told her that her only option was corneal transplant surgery. When this patient first visited us, the visual acuity in her right eye was 20/300 and 20/30 in her left eye. We recently fit both of this patient’s eyes with GVR Scleral lenses. She is now seeing clearly (20/20 in each eye) and comfortably once again. The pain she was experiencing in her right eye is gone. The last time this patient had decent vision in her right eye was 8 years ago. In the lower left photo if you look carefully you can see the corneal scars created by her 4 surgeries. In the lower right photo under higher magnification you can see the dense elevated corneal scars. The corneal damage created by these eye surgeries prevented the outer corneal layer (the epithelium) from healing. Because of this the corneal nerve endings in the center of her cornea are exposed to the environment and the blinking action of her eyelids. The purpose of this scleral lens is to not only provide quality vision once again but to protect the cornea from the environment and to promote healing. This eye will never need to undergo corneal transplant surgery. One last point: this patient had suffered from depression and anxiety from her vision loss and the thought of needing a corneal transplant. This is now a thing of the past.