THE BEAUTY OF TEACHING at a school of optometry is to be confronted daily with the curiosity and fresh perspective that students bring to concepts that established practitioners take for granted.

One fourth-year student is particularly interested in scleral lenses. Needless to say, he has millions of questions about all aspects of specialty lenses. Recently, he listened to a webinar about the complications of scleral lenses. The speaker was arguing that practitioners must avoid touching the limbus so as not to alter the corneal stem cells.

Although it is true that scleral lenses should not make contact with the limbus, calling this a problem due to “alteration of stem cells” does not accurately depict why this is a concern for fitters. Examination of ocular anatomy makes it clear that this is not that simple.

Read the full article on Contact Lens Spectrum.