I know this is long, bare with me, it requires some context.
I was born with a condition called Nystagmus (CN) which affects both of my eyes and Optic Nerve Hypoplasia (ONH) which only affects my right eye.
Congenital Nystagmus (CN) is where a person has uncontrolled eye movement. Mine is horizontal. Sometimes they are still, other times not so much. With this, i have a moving null point where if i turn my head to the right in varying degrees, the CN tends to calm down a bit. Its hard describe what its like.. When its bad, the best i can describe it as is seeing life through a flip book where as everyone else sees it in 4k.
The ONH, basically my right Optic nerve never fully developed. With lens correction its maybe 20/50 vision.
Because of my Nystagmus, my 15⁰ to 45⁰ moving null point (right head turn) and astigmatism; it has always been hard to get a decent eyeglass prescription. The reason is the focal length changes between the eye and the eyeglass lens depending on what my null point is at any given moment making things blurry and hard to focus.
I looked into contact lenes which would eliminate the focal length issue, however the level of astigmatism I have is too high for normal contacts.
Doing some research, i found out about Scleral contact lenes. These are specialized and I only found one opthalmologists in Grand Rapids that is trained in prescribing and fitting them.
They use a special scanner to measure the topography individuals eye (the Sclera and Cornea) then custom make the lenes accordingly. Because of how they are made, the amount of astigmatism someone has does not matter unlike the common soft contacts.
Since Sclarels are so specialized, they are a bit expensive. Usually insurance will not cover them and I'm not sure if I could justify the cost at the moment. I dont really know how, but they managed to get my health insurance to cover all but $115 of them!!
I just got them today (the 30th day of October in the year of our Lord 2024). It will probably take a week or so get used to them and for my eyes to adjust. So far, i am extremely pleased with them. It's almost like seeing the world through different eyes. Praise God and thank you for your prayers.
Praise the Lord. Oh what a blessed gift for you, your eyes, sight and financially.
Dear Lord, may you bless Steve with a quick and complete adjustment and a life long blessing to his vision.
I will be in GR to see a dental specialist for my chipped front tooth that is an implant, next Wed. I’ve been trusting God to provide a stress free, perfect, life long repair. This is his specialty.
I’m sooooo happy for you. Praising God with you.
wow! this is so cool! I am interested in your journey, will continue to lift you up in prayer for success in adapting and adjusting the technology and life. Praise God! and thanks for sharing your journey!
So sorry I missed this. I have been out with Dr appts. Praising God with you Steve! This is fantastic news. That had to be tiring to look through moving eyes. So happy they were able to get you contacts that work, a dr that can precribe them and that insurance covered a chunk of it!!! Planning on sharing this Friday morning on the BP Devo. Praying for your eyes to adjust and settle in nicely. Oh, and keep the big screens. :)
Outstanding Steve!!! Praying it gets even better for you.
Day 2 of wearing the sclerals. For 40 years I have been wearing glasses and constantly straining and squinting. Its taking some time getting used to not having to strain and squit. I also am finding myself having to pull text further away to read. Its so strange and I am extremely grateful. For my work, I use 2 32in screens and a 34in wide screen. I needed them so big so that i could make the font size larger and still have usable work space.. I could probably go smaller now but, nah. ;)
Oh Steve! This is awesome news!! All Praise to God our Lord and Savior!!! I will be praying that this brings you 'healing' 100%. Thank you for sharing this with us. Big hugs!!🤗
Praise God and continued prayers.
Praying the new contacts will be exactly what you need and that your breakin time will be minimal.
Oh Steve! I am so glad you found something and that it is working for you! I will pray that they continue to help, and that your insurance will cover them! And, of course, I am praying for restoration of your eyes!