Why dots fade
The marks on a scleral lens are small dots or lines added by the lab. They’re tiny, and they sit on a surface you clean every day. Wearers describe them fading:
- Gradually, with daily rubbing and cleaning.
- Faster with some products. Intensive protein removers are often blamed, and wearers report some solutions lightening or removing dots. See cleaners and coated lenses.
- Suddenly, after a change of product.
If your dots vanish soon after you start a new product, that’s a clue worth passing to your fitter.
Why we don’t recommend redrawing them yourself
It sounds like a small job, and many wearers do it. But fitters regularly see patients who took it into their own hands and came in wearing their lenses in the wrong eyes. Here’s why it goes wrong:
- It’s easy to mark the wrong lens. Right and left lenses can look identical. Once the original marks are gone, a new dot is only as reliable as your memory of which lens was which.
- The position may matter. On a lens designed to sit one way, such as one with a toric landing zone or astigmatism correction, the dot tells you how to insert it. A dot redrawn even slightly off could have you inserting the lens in the wrong position every day. See why does my scleral lens rotate?
- The lens sits on your eye. Whatever you put on the lens touches your eye and your eyelid all day. No marker sold in a store is labeled for use on contact lenses.
- Coated lenses have their own rules. Coatings like Hydra-PEG usually need to stay wet, and some products damage them. Drying a coated lens to mark it is a question for your fitter. See surface coatings.
- Your fitter may do it for you. Wearers report offices re-marking dots under a microscope, often quickly.
The fix is simple: take both lenses, in their labeled case, to your fitter. They can confirm which lens is which and re-mark them correctly.
Other ways to tell your lenses apart
If your dots were only there to tell right from left, you may not need them at all:
- Look for other markings. Many lenses have a tiny engraved letter, number or serial code. A magnifier helps.
- Ask for a tint. Some wearers have one lens lightly tinted, often the left, so they can tell them apart at a glance. The tint doesn’t wear off.
- Use a strict routine. Same eye first, every time, and each lens in its own marked side of the case. See right and left lenses mixed up.
- Keep cases separate if you’re worried about mixing them up.
If you think your lenses may have been swapped, don’t guess: take them out, keep them in their labeled case, and call your fitter.
What wearers say
Many wearers have redrawn their own dots with a fine marker and assumed all was well. Others say their fitter asked them not to, or re-marked the lens for them, often quickly. Several said they stopped worrying about dots once their fitter added a tint to one lens.
What to ask your fitter
- What are my dots for: right and left, orientation, or both?
- Can you re-mark them, and can you check I’ve been wearing each lens in the right eye?
- Could you tint one lens so I can tell them apart?
- Is the product I use likely to remove the marks?
Common questions
Lots of people say they redraw dots with a permanent marker. Is that safe?
We don't recommend it. Fitters see the results: patients who re-marked their own lenses and were wearing them in the wrong eyes, or with a lens that needs to sit one way rotated out of position. No marker sold in a store is labeled for use on a contact lens either. Ask your fitter or the lab to re-mark them.
Wouldn't I notice if my lenses were in the wrong eyes?
Not necessarily. Many people only find out at their next visit, when the fitter checks the lenses. Vision may be a little off, or one eye may feel less comfortable, and it's easy to put that down to a bad day. If anything has felt different since you re-marked, cleaned, or mixed up your lenses, tell your fitter.
Which side of the lens does the dot go on?
Ask your fitter. Wearers commonly report being told the outside (front) surface, but the right answer comes from the people who know your lens.
My dots disappeared overnight. What happened?
Wearers most often link sudden loss to a new cleaner, solution or protein remover. Check the product against your fitter's list, and mention it at your next contact, since a product strong enough to remove a dot may not suit your lens.