r/Keratoconus • u/Motorcitysound • 1d ago

Contact Lens Specialized Soft Lenses?

Does anyone have experience with specialized soft lenses like Novakone or Kerasoft? I have fairly severe keratoconus but I have largely leveled out in my progression. I had INTACS in my right eye about 13 years ago. Left eye has just naturally progressed and then leveled out. I tried scleral but my eyes were just too sensitive for me to use them. I heard about these new soft lenses and wondered if there was any hope for me here because I’d love to be able to just pop these things in like a regular contact and gain a significant increase in vision. Even if they aren’t quite as good as sclerals I’d be fine with just something better that isn’t a surgery.

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u/Fixinbones27 15h ago

I used novacone for a number of years. They likely won’t correct your vision adequately if you have severe KC. Also, sclerals are usually much more comfortable than a lens that sits on your cornea vs one that vaults the cornea like a scleral. Are you sure you went to a competent lens fitter for your sclerals.

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u/Motorcitysound 14h ago

Yeah I went to arguably one of the best in my state. It was definitely an eye sensitivity issue more than them “not working” if that makes any sense? The few times they made it in my eye correctly without any bubbles I was able to see fine. I couldn’t ever get them in on my own because of my eye sensitivity. I definitely need something with a much easier insertion process. Even if it means I have to use eye drops more often. I’ve read that novacone was made for all stages of KC? 

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u/Fixinbones27 14h ago

I guess they would be worth a try. I’m a surgeon so I was very particular about my visual acuity so maybe you could get acceptable acuity even with severe KC if you don’t have a visually demanding job. What lens are u using now?

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u/Motorcitysound 13h ago

Right now I am using absolutely nothing. So I have been completely uncorrected. I am still able to legally drive though but I would say I am on the edge of not being able to. My right eye is mostly fine because I had INTACS done pretty early on. My left eye continued progression and has now been pretty much plateaued for a few years now. It is basically “naturally stabilized” so to say. 

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u/Fixinbones27 13h ago

If you are still functioning with glasses I would definitely try the novacones

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u/PM25OI 17h ago

I wear such lenses (from 'TechLens' brand / what my current fitter only works with).
Positives: levels of care are basically the same as with regular soft lenses.
Negatives: compared to regular soft lenses these are usually much thicker (for them to keep shape over cone), so, at least for me, it causes issues with tear flow (like skin around eyes getting often irritated, etc.). However that can potentially happen with rgps as well (I haven't tried sclerals).
With these lenses surprisingly, I get better correction on my bad eye (uncorrectable with glassees), as they somehow able to center better on an eye with a bigger cone (again at least in my case).
In general, lenses give surprisingly good levels of overall correction, not as good as rgps in perfect conditions, but better in general throughout the day.

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u/tjlonreddit 19h ago

yeh just try them

or try piggy back lenses with normal size hard lenses on top of a soft lens