SA is a 51 year old female nurse who came to our office seeking a prosthetic contact lens for her left eye. She described that she had a congenital birth defect in her left eye and at the age of 4 or 5 she had surgery at Wills Eye Hospital. The attempt at surgical repair failed and the result was that the left pupil no longer reacted to light. The pupil normally constricts (becomes smaller) when there is light, to limit the amount of light that reaches the retina (the back of the eye). She described that the left iris turned brown. It is likely that since the pupil did not react, the left eye looked brown but was not actually brown. Nonetheless, the left eye appeared very different from her right eye. Her right iris is blue. She has no sight through her left. Approximately 2 years ago, the left cornea turned white.
SA is able to perceive light in the left eye but not more than that. The cornea is calcified and opaque (cloudy) inferiorly and that is why it looks cloudy to others. This defect in the left eye has affected her self-esteem and confidence. She is motivated now to solve the problem because she wants to be able to date once again and wants to look like everyone else.
The good news is that we will be able to help her by prescribing a prosthetic contact lens so that her left eye appears more similar to the right eye. That will help her regain self-confidence. We also suggested that she consider having eyeglasses with polycarbonate lenses in order to protect the right eye.
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