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.

Book a Consultation

Before You Book

You do not need a referral. Many patients arrive on referral from an optometrist, ophthalmologist, or cornea surgeon. Many find the practice on their own. Both are fine.

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 and coordinate findings back to that provider.

The consultation is free. Specialty lens consultations carry no charge. It is a clinical conversation about whether specialty lenses are appropriate for your eyes and what the process would involve — not a sales appointment.

What to Bring

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, ask that office to forward their most recent imaging.

  • Your current glasses prescription and your current glasses.

  • 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.

  • Surgical records, if you have had LASIK, PRK, RK, cataract surgery, a corneal transplant, or any other eye procedure.

  • Your referring provider's contact information, so findings can be sent back to them.

One preparation note: if you wear contact lenses, remove them at least two hours before your appointment. Lens wear temporarily alters the corneal surface, and imaging performed too soon afterward produces less accurate measurements. When you schedule, the team will tell you exactly how long to leave them out for your specific lens type.

Your First Visit

Plan for 60 to 90 minutes. This is 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. Imaging typically takes 30 to 45 minutes.

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.

You will leave the first visit knowing which lens platform is being recommended for your eyes and why.

How Many Appointments to Plan For

Your situation

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 rather than a sign that something went wrong

Straightforward fitting, regular corneal anatomy

Keratoconus

Post-surgical, post-transplant, or advanced irregularity

Stevens-Johnson syndrome or severe ocular surface disease

Typical number of visits

2 to 4

3 to 5

3 to 5, sometimes more

3 to 5, with additional refinement

Manufacturing time. Once your final design is confirmed and ordered, custom lenses typically take one to two weeks to arrive. Custom prosthetic lenses, which involve individual iris painting, take two to four weeks.

Total timeline. Most patients are wearing their final lenses within four to eight weeks of the first appointment, depending on complexity and how many design iterations the eye requires.

Your Dispensing Visit

When your lenses arrive, you return for a dedicated 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. Scleral lenses in particular require technique — the lens is filled with preservative-free saline, inserted face-up without trapping an air bubble, and removed with a small suction tool. Most patients need one to two practice sessions to become comfortable, and you will not leave the appointment until you can insert and remove the lenses independently.

Plan for 20 to 30 minutes of hands-on practice at this visit if you are new to scleral lenses.

Follow-Up and Ongoing Care

Follow-up visits confirm corneal health, verify that the fit remains stable, and refine the prescription if needed. For lenses that rest on the cornea — RGP and hybrid — this monitoring is a safety requirement, not a formality.

Between specialty visits, your routine care stays with your primary eye care provider. Findings from your fitting are communicated back to them so your record stays connected rather than split across two offices.

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 edge is normal and resolves as the eye adjusts.

  • Hybrid lenses: most patients reach comfortable full-day wear within two to three 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.

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

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. Calling your insurer in advance with the relevant procedure codes is the most reliable way to understand your benefits before your visit.

Specialty lens consultations are free of charge.

Lens pricing varies with the complexity of your eyes, the design required, and the number of fitting visits involved. There is no flat rate, because a post-transplant eye and a mild astigmatism case do not require the same clinical work. 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 greater Dallas–Fort Worth area. 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

  • 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.

  • Refinement is built into the process. If vision or comfort falls short at a follow-up, Dr. Summers identifies what is driving it — vault, diameter, optic zone, power, edge profile — 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.