What to Expect at Your Specialty Lens Fitting
Specialty contact lens fitting works differently from a routine eye appointment, and most patients arrive without a clear picture of what the process involves. This page covers the logistics: what to bring, how long visits run, how many appointments to plan for, and how billing works.
This is a specialty practice, not a general one. Texas Contact Lens Institute does not perform routine eye examinations and does not sell eyeglasses. You will continue seeing your regular eye doctor for annual exams, glaucoma monitoring, diabetic eye exams, and glasses. We handle the specialty lens side of your care.
You do not need a referral. Many patients arrive on referral from an optometrist, ophthalmologist, or cornea surgeon. But a referral is not needed to be seen.
Specialty lens consultations are free. Specialty lens consultations are at no cost to you. It is a clinical conversation about whether specialty lenses are appropriate for your eyes and what the process would involve.
Before You Book
The more clinical history you bring, the more of your first appointment goes toward evaluation rather than reconstructing your record.
Prior corneal topography or imaging reports, if any provider has performed them. If you were referred, please ask that office to forward their most recent imaging.
Your current glasses prescription and/or your current glasses.
A picture of or any contact lenses you currently wear or have tried, along with their prescription details.
A list of all medications, including eye drops, over-the-counter products, and supplements. Several common medications affect the ocular surface.
Your referring provider's contact information, so findings can be sent back to them.
What to Bring
Plan for 60 to 90 minutes. This is likely the longest appointment in the sequence.
Comprehensive evaluation. Dr. Summers reviews your history and examines your eyes and ocular surface, including the tear film and eyelid glands where relevant to your case.
Corneal topography and ocular surface analysis. These imaging tools map the three-dimensional shape of your cornea — its curvature, elevation, asymmetry, and surface health — in detail a standard refraction cannot produce. This dataset is the foundation for every design decision that follows.
Diagnostic lens trials. In most cases a trial lens is placed on the eye during this visit so Dr. Summers can observe how a particular design actually behaves on your cornea: how it vaults, how it centers, how the fluid layer settles, and what visual acuity it produces. Multiple trial lenses in a single visit are normal and scleral lenses need to settle on the eye for a while to properly assess the fit.
If you were referred by another provider, results will be sent to their office to coordinate care.
Your First Visit
How Many Appointments to Plan For
Specialty lens fitting is iterative by design. Each visit builds on clinical observations from the last, and adjustments across visits are a normal part of the process.
Manufacturing time. Once your final design is confirmed and ordered, custom lenses typically take one to two weeks to arrive and may be able to be sent directly to you, depending on the situation. Custom prosthetic lenses, which often involve individual iris painting, take two to six weeks.
Total timeline. Most patients are wearing their final lenses within four to eight weeks of the first appointment, depending on complexity, scheduling considerations and how many design iterations the eye requires.
Your Dispensing Visit
When your lenses arrive, you return for a dispensing appointment. Dr. Summers verifies the lens against the ordered parameters, evaluates the fit on your eye, and confirms visual acuity with an over-refraction.
Then you learn to handle the lenses yourself with insertion and removal training if you are new to wearing contacts or are being fit into a different type of contact. Scleral lenses require a specific insertion technique where the lens is filled with preservative-free saline, inserted face-up without trapping an air bubble, and later removed with a small suction tool. You will take home the lenses when you can insert and remove the lenses independently. We will provide all the starting materials you will need to use the lenses and include printed reference material as well.
Plan for at least 20 to 30 minutes of hands-on practice of insertion and removal at the dispense visit for new wearers.
Follow-up visits confirm corneal health, verify that the fit remains stable, and refine the prescription if needed. This monitoring is a safety requirement, not a formality.
Follow-Up/Ongoing Care
Adapting to Your Lenses
What adaptation looks like depends on the lens type:
Scleral lenses: most patients are comfortable quickly, since the lens never touches the cornea. The learning curve is handling, not comfort.
RGP lenses: expect one to three weeks of gradually increasing wear time. Initial awareness of the lens is normal and resolves as the eye adjusts.
Hybrid lenses: most patients reach comfortable full-day wear within two weeks.
Orthokeratology: clearer vision often appears within one to three mornings; full stabilization through the entire waking day typically develops over ten to fourteen days. Adapting to the feeling of the lens takes 2 weeks as well.
Dr. Summers provides a structured wear schedule at your dispensing visit so you know what is expected rather than guessing whether what you are experiencing is normal.
Fees and Insurance Questions
Texas Contact Lens Institute is an out-of-network provider and does not bill insurance directly. After your fitting is complete, a complete medical superbill is available on request, which you submit independently to your insurer.
Many plans with out-of-network benefits reimburse a portion of medically necessary specialty lenses, particularly for diagnoses such as keratoconus, corneal transplant, or corneal ectasia. Coverage varies by plan and diagnosis code.
Specialty lens consultations are free of charge.
Lens fitting and pricing varies with the complexity of your eyes, the design required, and the number of fitting visits involved. Call or text (972) 299-8675 to discuss what your case would involve before booking.
Visiting the Practice
Address: 6020 W Parker Rd Ste 260, Plano, TX 75093
Hours: Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM, by appointment only
Phone or text: (972) 299-8675
Email: info@texascontactlens.com
There is dedicated patient parking on site. The practice does not accept walk-ins.
Patients travel here from throughout Plano, Frisco, and the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. If you are coming a significant distance, mention it when you schedule — appointment sequencing can sometimes be adjusted to reduce the number of trips.
Common Questions
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Appointment availability varies. Call or text (972) 299-8675 and the team will confirm the next available slot. The practice sees patients Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM, by appointment only.
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Refinement is built into the process. If vision or comfort is unsatisfactory, Dr. Summers identifies what is driving it and adjusts the design parameters accordingly. Because the design is tied to your specific ocular measurements, corrections are precise rather than approximate. Most issues resolve within the planned follow-up sequence.
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Yes, and you should. This practice manages your specialty lenses only. Routine exams, general eye health monitoring, and eyeglasses remain with your primary eye care provider, and findings from your fitting are sent back to them.
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Yes. Orthokeratology and myopia management for children with progressing nearsightedness are a core part of the practice. Most children handle lens insertion and removal reliably by age eight to ten with parental support. Parents attend the training session.
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That conclusion is usually reached after standard soft lenses failed, which is expected on an irregular cornea — soft lenses conform to the distortion rather than correcting it. Custom scleral, RGP, hybrid, and piggyback systems are designed around your specific corneal topography and frequently succeed where mass-produced lenses could not. The free consultation exists specifically to answer this question for your eyes.