My Experience With a Bandage Contact Lens

Recently, I had a procedure for another eye condition known as map-dot-fingerprint dystrophy. Basically, this type of inherited corneal dystrophy can cause the surface of the cornea to become irregular and loose. Over time, that can impact vision and cause the type of morning pain I was having when first opening my eyes. It wasn’t a guarantee, but I thought having the procedure was worth a shot.

The lens was surprisingly comfortable

The hope was that the procedure would improve my vision at least. I had gotten to the point where I could not get to 20/20 in an eye exam. My chronic dry eye was probably a contributing factor to this, but we had done a lot of treatment, such as Intense Pulsed Light Therapy (IPL), using Tyrvaya spray, and putting in punctal plugs. My vision didn’t improve much.

The procedure itself and the recovery was not nearly as bad as I’d feared. One of the reasons is the doctor put a bandage contact lens on my eye right afterward. This lens stayed on my eye for 5 days. During that time, I also used an antibiotic eye drop. This was very important, as one risk of having a contact lens on for so long is infection.

I found the lens surprisingly comfortable and, after a while, I got used to it being there. Sometimes, it would feel a little dried out, particularly in the morning, but I just had to remember to use a preservative-free eye drop and keep those with me everywhere.

Pain and blurry vision returned without it

After the bandage lens came off, my eye did not feel so great. I could definitely tell the difference in having my cornea exposed to the environment again. The air conditioning in my car driving home that day was just brutal, and I couldn’t stop that often to add eye drops. Within a few days, my eye started to feel more normal again.

The total healing time for this procedure is around 8 weeks. About halfway through that, I started to notice my vision, which had improved, was going downhill again. Since it was summer, I had been outside hiking and biking a lot. We had just had a very windy period the week before.

A dry spot was the culprit

When I saw my dry eye doctor again for a follow up I mentioned what was going on with my vision during the recovery period. He looked at my eye carefully and said, “Well, you appear to have a dry spot right in the center.” He thought this could be what was mildly impacting my vision. The easy first solution was to put a bandage contact lens back on.

Three more weeks with the special contact

This time, we left the lens on for 3 weeks. I wasn’t sure if the lens would stay in that long, considering I had lots of plans to get outdoors, including a camping trip. But to my surprise, it did! Since I was not at home during that trip, I tried to be extra careful with my face and eyelid hygiene. I used only a gentle facial wipe to clean my face and used the antibiotic drops as prescribed. I also made sure to bring 2 coolers with lots of ice, so the drops would not get too hot.

Success

When I had my follow up at 3 weeks, the doctor told me the good news: My cornea looked great! In the future, I would not hesitate to try another bandage lens to protect my eye while it’s healing.