Specialty Contact Lenses
Welcome to a place where your vision challenges meet compassionate care and innovative solutions.
What Are Specialty Contact Lenses?
Specialty contact lenses are prescribed for patients who have experienced unsatisfactory results with conventional soft contact lenses. Standard soft contacts drape directly over the cornea, replicating any underlying surface irregularity or high astigmatism, resulting in blurred, distorted vision and frequent dryness.
In contrast, specialty lenses are custom engineered to vault over irregular corneal tissue or align precisely with unique scleral contours. For patients who are new to specialty lenses, scleral contact lenses are a commonly recommended modality, creating a smooth optical surface while bathing the eye in a continuous, protective fluid reservoir.
Other advanced contact lenses fit at our institute include corneal gas permeable (GP) lenses, hybrid contact lenses, and custom soft toric contact lenses.
Overall, specialty contact lenses can have wide-ranging and dramatic visual, mental, and cosmetic benefits. Beyond restoring crisp 20/20 vision, they provide profound relief for chronic ocular surface pain, severe dry eye disease, and debilitating light sensitivity.
The Top Doctors in North Carolina for Specialty Contact Lenses
The Charlotte Contact Lens Institute’s sole clinical focus is on providing patients with the latest technology in specialty contact lenses. While traditional practices spend 90% of their day fitting standard soft contacts or performing 15-minute glasses screenings, the vast majority of our patients come to us specifically for complex contact lens design and troubleshooting.
Our doctors—Dr. Ariel Cerenzie, OD, FAAO, FSLS and Dr. Sydney Walsh, OD—provide specialty contact lens care with compassion and unhurried time to listen to your unique concerns.
Here, you’re not just another chart number; you’re an individual with specific lifestyle needs, visual aspirations, and past frustrations. We specialize in crafting custom lenses that provide not just clear vision, but comfort and a path toward renewed confidence.
Our doctors understand the challenges of being told you are a “difficult to fit” patient. If you have questions about specialty contact lenses, we would be delighted to speak with you directly.
Common Types of Specialty Contact Lenses
Shown below are several primary modalities of specialty contact lenses. In total, dozens of custom lens designs exist to solve specific corneal, scleral, and visual challenges.
Scleral Lenses
Scleral Lenses
Scleral lenses are large-diameter gas-permeable contact lenses designed to vault over the cornea and rest on the white part of the eye (sclera). Scleral lenses are custom-made for each individual patient and are commonly used for treating keratoconus, high astigmatism, corneal transplants, severe dry eye, and other corneal irregularities.
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EyePrintPRO & EyeFitPRO
EyePrintPRO & EyeFitPRO
EyePrintPRO is an impression-based prosthetic scleral shell designed to match the exact contour of the eye. Ideal for extremely irregular or scarred ocular surfaces where standard diagnostic lenses cannot achieve a proper fit.
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Corneal GP Lenses
Corneal GP Lenses
Corneal gas permeable (GP) contact lenses are smaller rigid lenses that rest directly on the cornea. They provide crisp, sharp vision for high astigmatism, presbyopia, and irregular corneas.
More Info →Uses for Specialty Contact Lenses
Specialty contact lenses serve a diverse range of purposes in addressing complex vision needs and anterior segment pathologies. Lenses can be custom lathed for virtually any eye, regardless of how asymmetric or scarred.
Whether correcting severe refractive errors, stabilizing progressive corneal thinning, managing ocular surface disease, or rehabilitating vision following surgery or trauma, specialty lenses provide life-changing optical clarity.
Below are common clinical instances where specialty lenses offer substantial therapeutic and visual benefits:
Why The Charlotte Contact Lens Institute?
The Team
The team at the Charlotte Contact Lens Institute are experts in fitting specialty contacts lenses, whether they are free-form or impression based, RGPs, sclerals, hybrids, or custom soft contact lenses. Our doctors are nationally recognized for their expertise, and lecture frequently on the topic of specialty contact lenses.
Advanced Technology
Our office is one of a few practices in the country that is equipped with the Pentacam AXL Wave and Optovue Solix OCT, which aid in the design and (potential) troubleshooting of contact lenses. These advanced instruments allow our doctors to design contact lenses that are truly customized to your unique eye.
Unlimited Answers
We allow for enough time for thorough comprehensive exams, and plenty of time for answering questions. No rushing in and out here.
Specializing in Custom Contact Lenses
We do not offer traditional eye exams for “normal” eyes, and instead, a large percentage of our patients come to us specifically for customized specialty contact lenses. This sole clinical focus ensures deep mastery and unmatched visual outcomes.
Access to the Doctor
Our doctors are available to answer questions you have after your exam, and will make sure you have the information needed in order to ensure the best possible experience with your specialty contact lenses.
Affordability & Payment Flexibility
We keep our overhead costs low and offer very competitive prices as a result. We have monthly payment options available and also accept Cherry™, HSA, and FSA.
Specialty Contact Lenses Aren’t Just “Something We Do”
Specialty contact lenses are what we do. They are the sole reason our institute was established. Although a physician referral is never required to schedule a consultation, our office receives referrals from dozens of corneal surgeons, refractive specialists, and optometrists across North and South Carolina.
Surgeons refer to us because of our clinical expertise and our investment in truly advanced medical instruments—including the Oculus Pentacam AXL Wave (240,000 corneal data points), Optovue Solix high-resolution anterior segment OCT, and OVITZ wavefront aberrometry—tools found in only a select few tertiary centers nationwide.
Our doctors are recognized for their mastery of the most current evidence-based literature and fitting methodologies. When you visit our Matthews office, you receive unhurried, one-on-one doctor time dedicated entirely to your vision and comfort.
Our Doctors Lecturing on Specialty Contact Lenses
Dr. Walsh has presented specialty contact lens case reports and clinical posters at national optometric meetings, including the Global Specialty Lens Symposium and the American Academy of Optometry.
Presenting Advanced Scleral Lens Fitting Protocols at Global Specialty Lens Symposium
Clinical Education on Wavefront-Guided Optics & Specialty Lens Fitting
Continuing Education for Regional Eye Care Specialists & Corneal Surgeons
Clinical Lecture on Pediatric Myopia Control & Specialty Contact Lenses
Additional Resources
Explore more about our team, diagnostic technology, and what verified patients have to say.
Google Reviews
Read over 100+ verified 5-star Google reviews from keratoconus, post-surgical, and dry eye patients.
Read Reviews ↗Dr. Cerenzie’s Bio
Learn about Dr. Ariel Cerenzie, OD, FAAO, FSLS, her fellowship training, and national lectures.
Meet Dr. Cerenzie →Dr. Walsh’s Bio
Discover Dr. Sydney Walsh’s education, residency training, and clinical interests.
Meet Dr. Walsh →Our Diagnostic Technology
Explore our Pentacam AXL Wave, Optovue Solix OCT, and OVITZ wavefront aberrometry suite.
Explore Technology →Ready to Experience Life-Changing Vision?
Schedule your comprehensive 90–120 minute consultation with Dr. Cerenzie or Dr. Walsh in Matthews, NC.