Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis is a condition where the inside area of your upper lids become bumpy. This is not due to the contat lens itself, but to the build up of debris such as proteins, lipids, etc on the lens surface. Once we see this, daily contact lenses are recommended in order to have a clean lens every day. This is what we look for when we "flip your lids".

How to avoid: throw lenses away at recommended time period or consider dailies.

Superficial Punctate Keratitis are tiny areas of epithelial cell damage (denoted by the green patchy spots on bottom of cornea in image below) typically caused by either your solution, an old lens, an improperly fitting lens, a foreign body, lens frcture, or improperly worn lens. These heal very quickly, but can lead to infections as they are essentially tiny open wounds. We can limit this with proper lens replacement, proper lens care, using daily contacts, treating dry eye, and not sleeping in the lenses. This is what we look for when we put the yellow stain in the eyes.

How to avoid: keep eyes hydrated, use preservative-free solution, or consider dailies.

Corneal ulcers are open sores in the outer layer of the cornea. They are usually caused by infections of bacteria, but can also be viral, fungal, or Acanthamoeba in origin. They are denoted by a red, watery, and painful eye. Sometimes you will see  white spot on the cornea as well.

How to avoid: follow all directions for healthy lens wear, do not sleep in your lenses, remove them as soon as you feel any discomfort and consult your eye doctor, and consider dailies.

Contact lenses that have been fit by a professional and patients that follow the rules of proper lens care should not have many, if any, problems. However, if you sleep in your lenses, overwear them, keep them in when you have pain or redness, or generally abuse your contacts, you put yourself at risk. Eye infections are common if you do not properly wear your contacts as directed.

How to avoid: follow all directions for healthy lens wear, do not sleep in your lenses, avoid swimming or hot tubs while wearing lenses, remove them as soon as you feel any discomfort and consult your eye doctor, and consider dailies.

Contact lenses are essentially foreign bodies in the eye and your eye would prefer that they not be in there. When worn properly, your eyes can typcially handle the mild irritation caused by contacts; however, in some situations your eye may decide that it has had enough and needs a break. At this point, your eye begins to treat the eye like a threat. Your eye mobilizes its immune system to kick out the intruder.  This is called infiltrative keratitis which is a noninfectious immune response to a dirty or overworn lens.

How to avoid: wear your lenses as prescribed, do not sleep in your lenses, throw your lenses away at recommended intervals, and/or consider dailies.

Neovascularization literally means "new vessles".  These vessels for in response to a low-oxygen state in your cornea.  The cornea (clear outer part of eye) in a healthy person is vessel-free.  If we see neovascularization ("NEO" for short) then the cornea is not getting enough oxygen. This is either from the patient sleeping in unapproved contacts or overwearing them for longer than they should.

How to avoid: switch to newer, high-oxygen contacts, throw your lenses away at the recommended intervals, and do not sleep in your lenses.

A corneal topographer maps to corneal surface which in turn reveals its geomtry. Topographies are essential to fitting rigid lenses as well as tracking many ocular diseases.

The slit lamp is large bonicoular microscope that has many options for light color and width (hence the "slit" in slit lamp). Using this device, the doctor looks for abnormalities of your eyes related to contact lens wear. The CL technician uses the slit lamp to observe in detail how the contact lens is moving, centering, rotating, and overall 'fitting' on your eyes.

Our new Lumenis Antares machine can examin and quantify your dry eye. We can show you the dry areas as well as how fast your eyes dry out between blinks. This is the first step to begin treating dry eyes.

Optical Coherence TOmography is a fantastic tool we use primarily for glaucoma and retina; however, it can also give us detailed information about the fit of complex RGP lenses such as sclerals. In the image below you can see the contact lens that is vaulting over the cornea without touching it - just as it should be.

Meibography is the imaging of the meibomian glands.  These are finger-like glands that keep your eyes moist.  You have them in your eyelids; however, age and other causes (contact lens wear, chronic inflammation, poor diet, etc) can lead to the atrophy and eventual loss of these glands. Unfortunately, once they are gone, you cannot get them back. Our office provides IPL treatment for dry eye plus a Home Care Kit to help you preserve the glands that you have now.