Sixteen Year old from Venezula Treated with GVR Scleral Lens

In the photo below standing next to me is a 16 year old boy with advanced keratoconus in both eyes. Standing to his left is his father. They both visited our office from Venezuela. 3 years ago he was diagnosed with keratoconus. Over the last 3 years he was fit with a number of different lenses which either did not correct his vision or were very uncomfortable to wear. When this boy first visited us several weeks ago, the visual acuity in his right eye was less than 20/800 and 20/100 in his left eye. Eyeglasses were not able to provide him with functional vision. This patient’s right cornea was so pronounced that “hydrops” developed. This is a condition where the most posterior membrane of the cornea ruptures allowing fluid (aqueous) from inside the eye to enter the center of the cornea creating a cloudy appearance. We fit both of this boy’s eyes with GVR Scleral lenses. With these lenses he is now able to see 20/30 with his right eye and 20/20 with his left eye with all day lens wear and comfort. In his home country he was told that the only solution for his vision loss was to undergo corneal transplant surgery. Just prior to visiting our office, this patient underwent Corneal Cross Linking which is designed to strengthen his corneas. In the photo below, note the haze directly in front of the pupil. This is the “hydrops” created by the ruptured corneal membrane described above. I expect this young boy’s corneas to remain stable and seriously doubt that he will ever need to undergo corneal transplant surgery.