Hi everyone. I'm new here, my name is Kevin. I'll give a brief history for those who maybe didn't see my post in the intro thread.

I was in a car accident last year. Ruptured globe with detached retina and lens removal. After numerous surgeries, I still have my eye but there is little hope that I'll recover any functional vision. Another injury that I sustained was a deep facial laceration that extends from my forehead through my left eyelid and down my chhek, ending at the tip of my nose. I'm scheduled to have scar revision surgery in the next few months which hopefully will allow my eye to fully open.

This brings me to my question. After the scar revision surgery, my eyelid which is permanently half way closed now, should end up looking more like my right eye thus making my disfigured eye more visible. After six eye surgeries I have a severe pupillary defect along with some toxicity issues from the silicone oil. My doctor has mentioned getting fitted for a special cosmetic contact lens that they would paint to match my other eye. I'm wondering if anyone here has had or is currently wearing a painted cosmetic lens that could possibly share their experience with me?

thanks.

when i was fifteen i had a painted soft contact lens made for my right eye. Sadly, after all of the hard work and excitement about wearing it, i found that i could not tolerate it. My eye was too sick to handle wearing the contact. I ended up with terrible infections and ulcers. That was the end of my attempt at looking normal. Years later I had surgery and now I wear a prosthesis. I wish you the best of luck. I think that the painted contact lens is a great thing if you can wear it.

Hi Kevin.
I have a prosthetic contact lens made for me by Adventures in Colors in Colorado. If your eye can tolerate a regular contact lens, then you will be fine with a prosthetic contact lens. It might make sense to try wearing a regular contact first before you invest time and money into a prosthetic.

Adventures in Color charges about $325 but you have to work with an eye doctor so your actual cost might be around $700.
Custom Color Contacts is in New York will work with you without an eye doctor but they charge about $1000 per lens. Ciba Vision has a Special Eyes Foundation that makes prosthetic lenses. These lenses are cheaper but they are not custom painted lenses. They use their stock colors printed on top of opaque backgrounds. I'm sure there are additional resources. I mention the costs because some insurance companies see these as cosmetic and do not cover them.

Other than the issues of cost and comfort, color matching can take time. If you can't go to the location where the lenses are painted, you must use photographs. My lens was mailed back and forth 8 times and it took several months to get the color right. I would consider traveling to get the color perfect in less time, if I had it to do again.

Is there anything else I can share?
Best wishes - Amy

Thanks for the information. My doc gave me a couple of demo Ciba Vision lenses to try. I haven't been able to wear them much because they irritate my eye, but I wasn't really happy with how they match my other eye anyway. Amy, did it take some time for your eye to adjust to the contact lens? I have worn contact lenses for years and I still do wear one from time to time in my good eye, but I haven't been able to wear the prosthetic lens in my bad eye for more than 45 minutes before it becomes irritated. i have only tried wearing it three times, but I'm wondering if maybe my eye will adjust over time.

Everyone is different...
Your eye can adjust over time. Some people can't tolerate lenses but others eventually do very well. Give yourself tons of time and build up your wearing time slowly.

I was able to wear a prosthetic contact for 5-6 hours right away because I already wore a color contact off and on in my bad eye. I wanted to wear it all day, about 14 hours. I started with 5 hours and I very slowly increased it over 3 months to 14 hours.

I had a scleral shell made 2 years ago and that took longer to adjust to but eventually it was comfortable also.

The Ciba lenses are nice because the process is easy (I tried them also) but I couldn't get a very good color match either. I wonder if they could have made lenses for both eyes, using the same color selections? Like you, I wear a contact in my good eye anyway. That might have taken the pain out of "color matching" Hmmm...
The Ciba Special Eyes lenses are a great place to start but do not offer you unlimited color options thats why I ended up with a hand painted lens.

Best wishes - Amy

Thanks Amy. I tried the lens again last night and was able to keep it in for about two hours before feeling any discomfort. Small steps.