Driving With Keratoconus: Before and After the Scleral Lens
Can you drive with a scleral lens? Yes, you can and I do. I have had keratoconus for 30 years and I can say that driving became so stressful that I had to first stop driving at night. As my keratoconus progressed through stages of keratoconus, I had to eventually give up driving altogether.
Driving requires clear crisp vision, depth perception and peripheral vision. We need to be able to see cars changing lanes, street signs, lights and be on the lookout for other dangerous drivers.
Keratoconus alters our ability to judge distances and skews our perception thus slowing down our reaction time. That gets compounded when driving at night with keratoconus and even worse if it’s raining.
Keratoconus causes us to see halos around street lights for example, as well as starbursts from the lights of oncoming traffic which can be downright terrifying.
How Does the Scleral Lens Help With Driving
The Scleral lens helps us to drive with keratoconus by masking our condition. How do scleral lenses work for keratoconus? It works by replacing our damaged cornea with the perfect shape of our scleral lens for as long as we are wearing our lenses.
Driving with Keratoconus: Before the Scleral Lens
Driving with keratoconus before my scleral lenses in the early stages of keratoconus, wasn’t that bad.
However as mentioned earlier, once keratoconus progressed into the later stages, street signs became more distorted, I would miss exits because I could not see them until I was under the sign, too late, missed my exit.
My depth perception was completely off. Objects would look farther away than they really were. It made for potentially dangerous situations.
Driving with Keratoconus: After the Scleral Lens
With the aid of my scleral lenses, my vision as been restored to 20/20. I can drive day or night and the clarity is nothing short of a miracle.
Back to Driving at Night with the Scleral Lens!
With my sclerals, my vision is crisp and clear. My depth perception and peripheral vision are both excellent. Night driving now poses no problems, with no glare or halos. The privilege of driving has been given back to me thanks to the scleral lens and my practitioners.
Legally Blind
Without my scleral lens, I am legally blind. Due to the nature of keratoconus, glasses are of little help. I am in the small percentage of suffers who advanced all the way to severe keratoconus and required a full corneal transplant on my right eye back in 2006.
Even in my extreme case, the scleral lens has restored my vision to 20/20, and now driving at night presents no problems whatsoever.
Key Takeaways
- Yes, you can drive with a scleral lens and I do.
- Depending on what stage of keratoconus we are in keratoconus can most definitely affect our driving.
- Clarity of vision, depth perception, and peripheral vision are all compromised with keratoconus.
- The scleral lens masks our condition.
- Driving before using the scleral lens especially at night and in rainy conditions, can be dangerous for ourselves, and more importantly, to others on the road.
To Summarize
Losing the privilege of driving due to vision loss from keratoconus is a common scenario for those with keratoconus. Although this may be true, I am living proof you can drive with a scleral lens.
Discover More About Keratoconus
Don’t stop your journey here! For more in-depth information to view an article from Richard A Driscoll, O.D. at Total Eye Care on this same topic, click here.
Dive into a world of knowledge and resources that can empower you in managing keratoconus effectively. Your vision for a clearer future starts with one click.