BOSTON -- A contact lens, developed in Massachusetts, is giving hundreds of patients who were blinded by injury or disease back their sight.
"I was legally blind from the age of 4 until the age of 21. I could see a tree -- but I'd see like brown and green, or grass I could see green," Jason Leib said.
Leib's vision was restored thanks to the scleral lens -- a large contact-style lens developed in Chestnut Hill, Mass.
"It's about the size of a quarter," Boston Foundation For Sight Founder Dr. Perry Rosenthal said. "The material allows air and oxygen to pass right thru it, so this layer of fluid over the cornea is what makes this lens work and why our patients call it the miracle lens."
The scleral lens isn't new. It was actually FDA approved 8 years ago. But the high cost of making and fitting the lens made it impractical. Now technology is changing that.
A new machine can shape the lenses in minutes, making them less costly than the $5,500 a pair they once were. The Boston Foundation for Sight is also starting an outreach program.
"We're the only clinic in the U.S. making and fitting these lenses," Rosenthal said. "We're going to start training doctors in various clinics to set up the same technology that we have."
So far, only about 400 patients nationwide have the lens, while as many as 50,000 patients could benefit.
"Those are patients who have disease that have distorted their cornea, some have had surgery that distorted their cornea like corneal transplant surgery," Boston Foundation For Sight Executive Director Dr. Janis Cotter said.
It's changed Attorney Harry Daniels' vision and his life.
"I go skiing, I play golf, and while some of the people who I play golf with would tell you I don't have the best vision, it's certainly better than it was before the scleral lens," Daniels said.
Leib, who has a severe form of dry eyes, had the lenses fitted three years ago.
"The first time I saw a tree. I saw leaves. I was able to see one leaf form the next. It wasn't just green anymore, it was like an actual living being," Leib said.
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