Art Optical is rolling out new customizable higher-order aberration (HOA)-correcting optics for its signature Ampleye Scleral lens series.
This latest update was announced earlier this month, with commercial availability already underway across the United States.
First up: a refresher on Art Optical.
It’s been a minute since our last coverage of the independent custom contact lens manufacturer.
What to know: Operating out of Grand Rapids, Michigan, the company offers custom soft lenses and specialty gas permeable (GP) lenses—plus a range of scleral, presbyopic, single, and specialty lenses.
- Click here for a look at its inventory.
And in regards to this update … give us a rundown on Ampleye.
First introduced exclusively to the U.S. market in 2016, the fully-vaulting (with 360° scleral alignment) GP scleral lens received FDA 510(k) clearance in 2017 as a Class II medical device.
- See here for the company’s announcement on this.
Its intended use: is for the therapeutic management of ocular surface disease (OSD) from dry eye.
- Specific therapeutic indications are viewable here.
Let's talk design.
The lens offers four zones:
- Central vault
- Peripheral cornea
- Limbal lift
- Scleral landing
Each zone is independently controlled via Art Optical’s proprietary Spline Science Technology, which connects and smooths the lens junction to ensure adjustability capabilities.
Check out more lens features.
Can we get a visual of this lens?
Absolutely. See here for a demo of the scleral lens’ fitting process.
Also worth noting: A microvault feature was added to Ampleye in 2023 (our coverage here).
Alrighty, now to the latest update for this lens.
In partnership with OVITZ—an advanced medical technology system offering automated HOA correction—Art Optical is now offering customized HOA-correcting optics powered by the xwave system.
- To note: OVITZ xwave is a commercially available closed-loop scleral lens production system that combines advanced wavefront aberrometry measurements with lens manufacturer lathe machine software.
Can we see xwave in action?
Watch below.
Correcting Higher Order Aberrations with OVITZ® xwave
So what’s the advantage for Ampleye prescribers?
Per Art Optical, these clinicians can “now measure patient-specific visual distortions and use that data to design custom, wavefront-guided lenses.”
The intent: to improve visual clarity for scleral lens patients still experiencing issues such as glares, halos, or ghosting.
- In fact, Bethany Peebles, FAAO, NCLE-AC, ABOC, the company’s executive director of Consultation Services, emphasized that this new optics option is ideal for patients with complex corneal irregularities who “have been unable to obtain crisp vision despite an ideal scleral lens fit and precise optics.”
And is there any clinical data to back this up?
According to Art Optical, a company-funded pilot study demonstrated that Apleye lenses with HOA correction “achieved an average 61% improvement” in total higher-order root mean squared (HORMS).
To note: No other details were shared about this pilot study, including the patients, study design, or outcome measures.
This reportedly exceeded the “55% improvement” achieved by a 2025 clinical study on wavefront-guided correction.
Got it. Lastly, how can prescribers start using these new optics?
Art Optical advises interested prescribers to reach out to their consultation team.