Medically Necessary Contact Lenses / Scleral Contact Lenses

Many patients are unable to see clearly and/or comfortably with conventional contact lenses or glasses.  These patients may include patients with keratoconus, corneal degenerations or ectasia (such as Pellucid's Marginal Degeneration), dry eyes and/or meibomian gland dysfunction, corneal disease, corneal injury, corneal irregularities, corneal damage from trauma or failed refractive surgery ( RK, Lasik or PRK).  Medically necessary contact lenses allow these patients comfortable and clear vision when the contact lens is applied to the eye.  One type of medically necessary contact lens that has helped thousands of people is called a Scleral Contact Lens. 


Dr Bearden at Fort Lauderdale Eye Care and Eyewear has special training to evaluate and fit these types of lenses for the patient who is a candidate to wear them.  Since every patient is different - each case is individual.  It often can take several visits to find a lens design that will work for each patient.  The goal of this type of specialty contact lens is to get the patient good vision, comfortable while maintaining good eye health.  Sometimes we must use these contact lenses as well as glasses to achieve all three goals.


These lenses and specialty contact lens fitting and evaluations can be much more expensive than conventional contact lenses because the process can be time consuming and requires special skills and training that not every eye doctor possesses.   Sometimes medical insurances or vision plans can help cover some of the cost of this type of contact lens evaluation, fitting and lenses. Ultimately each patient is responsible for the charges incurred in prescribing these types of lenses but, we will do everything we can to assist you in filing your insurance for reimbursement - including writing letters to your insurance carrier of medical necessity.