Our patients and potential candidates for our Laserfit® scleral contacts fitting process often come to us with various questions about our product, procedures and outcomes prior to booking their appointments. If you are interested in visiting Laserfit® and undergoing our process for scleral contacts, take a look at our most frequently asked questions below to learn more about our custom optics before booking your appointment.
Why are they called Laserfit?
The name Laserfit was chosen because of the laser scanning technologies used to fit and make them. A low-coherence FDA-approved diode laser called an optical coherence tomographer is used to map the eye. Another FDA-approved laser device called a ray-tracing aberrometer is used to map the optics of the eye in great detail.
My last eye doctor used an OCT (Optical Coherence Tomographer) to check the fit on my scleral lenses. Isn’t that the same thing?
The answer is no. Dr. Gemoules is a pioneer in the use of digital imaging in designing and fitting scleral lenses and has a patent on the process. Others use OCT devices for various reasons such as documenting the lens on the eye, but it is not remotely similar to the process that Dr. Gemoules has created.
What’s the difference between taking a regular mold of the eye and your digital method?
Making scleral lenses from impression molds of the eye is an old art. However it does require putting a molding substance in the eye and is a more invasive technique. With Laserfit, the eye is directly scanned and other than holding the eyelid to expose the sclera, the process is non-invasive. The process is quick, easy, and pleasant for the patient as well as the doctor or technician.
The shape of an eye can be easily altered with pressure – a finger, an instrument, or whatever and many of the corneas we see are very thin. The Laserfit non-invasive process is therefore capable of measuring the shapes of all eyes without fear of significantly altering the shape of the eye during the measurement process.
How do other scanning technologies compare to the Laserfit method?
The sclera of the eye is relatively “rough” and non-reflective. The Laserfit approach using optical coherence tomography captures the surface of the eye very consistently and very effectively in high contrast. Other scanning technologies use some sort of liquid fluorescent dye that must coat the surface of the eye in order for the scanner to “read” the surface of the eye, or rather the layer of fluid that is used to coat the eye. With Laserfit there is no such thing as a poor scan or a faulty mold.
Another advantage of using optical coherence tomography is that all of the eye’s anatomical structures are captured, including internal structures such as the iris and pupil and the tissue transition between the cornea and the sclera, and not just the surface features. This is critical for best alignment and accurate registration of the images.
One important point is that while it is possible to obtain an image of the eye, or a mold of the eye, it is quite another to create an engineered lens to fit the eye and to perform properly. Laserfit uses the best engineering software available and the best engineering consultants to create the most advanced lenses in the world.
Can Laserfit lenses correct astigmatism or prism?
Because of Laserfit's non-rotational properties, it can absolutely correct astigmatism, of any amount or axis, and prism in any axis. Furthermore, it can correct both at the same time, as well as add HOA (higher order aberration) correction at the same time.
Can Laserfit correct glare and halos, especially at night?
Laserfit uses a patented process to incorporate wavefront-guided optics into the lens optics. The purpose of this is to reduce or eliminate the higher order aberrations which cause visual distortions such as glare, halos, ghost images, etc.
I have read that some people get 20/10 vision. Will I get 20/10 vision?
It is true that our studies have shown up to 16% of our patients have been able to resolve 20/10 letters with Laserfit lenses. Unfortunately this is a result of great optics and not anything that we purposely have tried to achieve. We cannot predict who can be improved to that degree. In other words, our aim is to achieve the best possible optics but we cannot guarantee a specific result.
Can Laserfit help with corneal scars?
Laserfit can often help restore vision lost through corneal disfigurement. The reason is that that corneal scarring is often accompanied by an irregular corneal surface. Unfortunately, the scar tissue creates another type of light scatter or diffusion that cannot be fixed with a lens, and so the improvements in these cases are always somewhat limited. However, it is not something that can always be predicted with certainty, and sometimes the results are surprisingly better than expected.
Can Laserfit help with cataracts?
Unfortunately cataracts create a type of light scatter and diffusion that cannot be completely corrected with our lenses. While other aspects of vision can be greatly improved, the presence of a cataract will limit that improvement.
Can I get Laserfit lenses near me?
Laserfit has not yet been licensed. Therefore Laserfit is currently only available here in our Coppell, Texas location. However, our proximity to a major international airport hub and our fee arrangement with a local hotel makes travel to our location both pleasant and convenient.
Can I get a prescription for Laserfit lenses?
It is not possible to write a prescription for our lenses. Although some of our lenses have standard “simple” lens powers like most other scleral lenses, the rest of the lens – the part that follows the contour of each individual eye – is designed using a special computer-aided-design program and translated to a special computer code that tells the lathe exactly how to make the lens, down to the submicron level. Most of our lenses have complex wavefront optics which are proprietary and protected by several U.S. Patents.
Is Laserfit covered by insurance?
Whether Laserfit is covered depends on the diagnosis and the insurance company. If the lenses are deemed medically necessary by the insurance company, then they may cover a portion of or the entire fee. Our staff will provide you with supporting documentation to file a claim, but payment in full must be made to us at the time of service. We strive to keep our fees reasonable and we can only do that by being paid promptly and in full.
What is the future of Laserfit?
Our primary goal is to continue to be a world leader in technological innovation and to give our patients the best possible vision. Laserfit requires sophisticated and expensive scanners and software and may not be ideally suited for the typical eye care practice. Therefore, we can only hope that our technology will be adopted by the industry in the future.
What is the cost of Laserfit?
The cost is determined by time and materials. Because we have long served an international clientele, that business has definitely shaped our processes and fees. Our goal has always been to complete our services as quickly as possible in order to minimize the personal and economic impact on our patients of being away from job, home, and family. Therefore, our minimum requirement is 5 business days in order to complete a fitting. This includes all lenses consumed up to the final pair. However, as Laserfit became more complex and offered more features such as wavefront optics, we found that it took longer in some cases to achieve the optimum results. In general, the optical situation will determine the length of stay more so than the fitting process. In some cases a few more days are necessary – at most 2 or 3 –and those are billed on a per-diem rate that is added onto the basic 5-day rate.
In a few cases a patient may find it necessary to return within a few weeks or months to have their fit adjusted. In those cases where the amount of work is expected to be minimal and of a short duration, we may elect to bill on a per-diem basis.
