Article by our senior Optometrist Ahmed Hilmi.

Most patients are straight forward for us, having been in practice for nearly 20 years, there is not that much which is new. However this young man had a challenging problem.

This patient, whom we will call SC, has a scarred right cornea. This was as the result of an injury when he was about 17 years old. Being a young man, SC was concerned about his appearance and came in wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap. He didn’t take them off until he sat in my chair, and then I noticed his very obvious scaring.

The patient kindly let us take pictures and share them with you. Please note the scarred right cornea.

He asked if there was anything I could do.

I examined him and noted that the corneal scarring was not just clouding his cornea but also the surface was irregular and uncomfortable. Fortunately I have had a similar patient, but admittedly not as complicated, so I took some measurements and took some scans of his cornea. I explained I could try and make a cosmetic contact lens to try and match the shape and colour of his eye other. Fast forward 2 weeks and the lens was here. Its like a normal contact lens, but made to match the contours of SC’s eye and his eye colour. Its not an exact science, or a science at all, its more akin to art.

The image below is the cosmetic prosthetic lens in place. I was very happy, but not as happy as SC.

The right scarred cornea now has the cosmetic lens in place. A significant cosmetic improvement.

He instantly took out his phone and took a picture of him self, smiled and said “its like I was before the accident”.

SC walked out without his hat and sunglasses !