Eyecare Insight

Insight on CBS 11 - Hybrid Contact Lens Has Patients Seeing Clearly

Insight is excited to announce that we were featured on CBS 11 News. Our specialty contacts, Synergeyes ClearKone, is a new contact lens specifically for those with Keratoconus or anyone with irregular corneas. People who have had laser surgery or corneal transplants are also candidates for this contact lens. Please see below for the CBS 11 article.

DALLAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―When you can’t see well, it cuts into many aspects of daily life. Now there’s hope for North Texans who are former eye laser patients or are suffering from degenerative sight loss.

Maria Garza, 36, said the eye chart was the least of her problems. “Honestly I couldn’t see anything,” said the wife and mother. Garza even had eye surgery but said, “It didn’t work for me.”

Like two-percent of Americans, Garza suffers from Keratoconus or KC. “It’s a progressive disease of the eye, specifically the cornea of the eye,” explained North Texas ophthalmologist Ivan Bank. “It’s very progressive, very damaging and can lead to blindness.”

Most KC patients are diagnosed in their 20’s, and the condition is more common in men.

Dr. Bank is one of a handful of doctors in the nation now treating KC with a new contact lens. The lens, called ClearKone, is a hybrid contact.

“It’s a combination of two lenses in the same – glass and then plastic,” said Garza.

Dr. Bank says the lens eliminates past issues for KC suffers. “Instead of compressing the cornea and causing all the discomfort that we have in the past, we now have a lens that provides excellent vision and excellent comfort,” he said.

Patients say ClearKone is more comfortable and effective. Garza says the lenses have not only restored her vision, but her life and career as well. “Honestly, I’m like a new person — after the contact lenses. I work long hours. I don’t get tired at the computer,” she said.

ClearKone also treats patients who are having eye trouble, 10-12 years after laser surgery. “We know who not to operate on now. So with laser surgery there’s a lot of irregularities of the cornea, there’s a lot of distortion. A very similar effect to what we see with a progressive disorder like Keratoconus,” explained Dr. Bank.

Not all insurance providers cover ClearKone lenses.

The first contact fitting takes about 1 1/2 hours. Two or three, 30-minute, follow-up appointments will also be needed to get the perfect fit.