Specialty contact lenses in New Albany, Ohio.

If you have keratoconus, a corneal scar, severe dry eye, post-LASIK irregularity, or a prescription that's never quite worked in regular contacts. You probably need more than what's stocked off the shelf. Specialty lenses are a different conversation. The goal isn't just sharper vision (though that usually happens too); it's getting your eyes to actually tolerate contacts comfortably, often for the first time.

When standard contacts stop working.

Most patients do well in soft daily disposables. But certain corneas don't behave the way standard lenses expect. The eye may be too steep, too irregular, too dry, or too sensitive. Sometimes a high prescription causes the lens to flex and shift. Sometimes the cornea has been changed by surgery, an injury, or a condition like keratoconus that progresses slowly over years. In those cases, an off-the-shelf contact lens is fighting the eye, not working with it.

That's where a specialty lens fit comes in.

What we fit.

The right specialty lens depends on your cornea, your prescription, and what you've already tried. We fit five categories of specialty lenses, and the decision of which to use starts with corneal topography, not a catalog.

Custom soft lenses

Made specifically for one patient: different curvature, thickness, or material than anything stocked. Often the right answer for moderate corneal irregularity or high prescriptions where standard soft lenses won't sit still.

Rigid Gas Permeable (RGP / GP) lenses

GP lenses can provide some of the sharpest optics available, especially for irregular corneas and high astigmatism. The rigid lens plus the tear film behind it acts as a smooth optical surface that masks small corneal irregularities. Durable, available in bifocal and multifocal designs, and typically planned around annual replacement.

WAVE-designed lenses

WAVE Contact Lenses makes topography-driven CAD/CAM lens designs. The platform powers WAVE NightLens (ortho-k), WAVE CorneaLens (GP), and WAVE ScleraLens (sclerals). The lens is built directly from a precise corneal scan rather than fitted via diagnostic trial. Useful when standard parameters don't fit and you need a one-of-a-kind design.

Scleral lenses

A larger lens that vaults over the cornea and rests on the white of the eye, with a fluid-filled chamber underneath. Often life-changing for keratoconus, severe dry eye, post-surgical irregularity, or any cornea that doesn't tolerate a standard contact. They sound complicated. Most patients adapt within a couple of fittings.

Multifocal specialty lenses

For patients who need both specialty correction and reading vision, available in custom soft and GP designs.

Gas-permeable (GP) lenses.

GP lenses get mistaken for the old "hard" contacts a lot, but the resemblance mostly ends at rigid. Modern GP lenses are a breathable, oxygen-permeable material, nothing like the PMMA plastic used decades ago. Because a GP lens holds its shape between blinks instead of flexing the way a soft lens does, it can deliver sharper, more stable vision, especially for higher prescriptions, significant astigmatism, and corneas that aren't perfectly regular. We build every GP lens from a topography map of your own cornea using WAVE CorneaLens, not a stock curve.

GP lenses aren't usually the first lens we reach for. Soft lenses are more comfortable out of the gate. But they're a strong option when a soft lens isn't holding up: higher prescriptions, irregular corneas, or dry eyes that soft lens materials don't tolerate well. They take longer to adapt to than soft lenses, typically one to a few weeks, and patients who've tried and given up on GP lenses before are often good candidates for a second look; the problem is frequently the fit, not the lens. With proper care, most patients get a full year of wear before we replace the pair.

What a specialty contact lens fit looks like.

A specialty fit takes longer than a standard contact lens exam. We don't charge for follow-up fittings during this process. We work with you until the lenses are right.

Insurance and medical necessity.

When a specialty lens fit qualifies as medically necessary, most major vision plans (VSP, EyeMed) include a Medically Necessary Contact Lens benefit that applies, and the coverage is significantly better than what vision plans pay for "elective" contacts. The benefit is part of your vision plan, not your medical plan; whether your specific case qualifies depends on the diagnosis and your plan's rules.

Schedule a specialty lens consultation.