The contact lens industry is an interesting one. It looks like a small world, and in many ways it is. But as our beautiful profession is so diverse and has so many aspects to it, you keep meeting new people and discovering new 'alleys' with hidden doorways and courtyards - especially in the specialty lens field - surrounded by the giant skyscrapers that tower high above them (the multinationals). You can see the (R)GP and specialty lens business almost as a secret garden. It is not easy to find, but once you are in it - you are surrounded by a friendly atmosphere and unexpected and unprecedented camaraderie, even though many visitors are competitors. I am eternally grateful to be part of the secret garden club. Just don't tell too many people about it. It may get crowded.  

Scleral lenses are another tool in your contact lens toolbox, but their application is far more reaching than simply for patients who have compromised corneas." This is the start of a five-case-report illustrated article in Contact Lens Spectrum by Jason Jedlicka, Marsha Malooley and Renee Reeder. The indications in this article are not the traditional 'extreme makeover' corneas - they range from a return to (R)GP lenses after soft torics failed in one patient to dry eye and comfort issues in others or indications like significant refractive error. In the latest Scleral Lens Society Newsletter, Muriel Schornack reports on an interesting case of a non-healing epithelial defect in a 56-year-old Caucasian male (see photo with this item). One month after initiating scleral lens therapy, the epithelial defect had resolved completely.