A 54 Year Legacy of Trusted Multi-Specialty Eye CareAnd We're Still Earning It

Joe Forte, LDO, CLSA is a board-certified, fellowship-trained contact lens specialist with over four decades of hands-on experience. A New York State Licensed Optician since 1982 and Connecticut Licensed since 2007, Joe is a Fellow of the Contact Lens Society of America and holds a Masters in Contact Lens Technology with Advanced Certification from the National Contact Lens Examiners. He also served as Program Director at Interboro College of Opticianry, training the next generation of lens specialists.

Joe has been a cornerstone of the Greenwich Ophthalmology contact lens department since 2010, and is widely recognized for his ability to solve the cases other practices turn away, including keratoconus, post-LASIK irregular corneas, high astigmatism, presbyopia, and pediatric fitting. If you have been told you are not a candidate for contact lenses, Joe is the specialist you want in your corner.

Dr. Sofia Ribolla, OD is a residency-trained optometrist whose passion for contact lens care drives everything she does. With a Master of Visual Science focused on dry eye and meibomian gland dysfunction, she brings a deep understanding of the ocular surface to every fitting, ensuring lenses work with your eyes rather than against them.

Dr. Ribolla specializes in soft and scleral contact lens fittings including specialty designs, comprehensive vision testing, and myopia management for children. Her particular enthusiasm lies in helping patients who have struggled with comfort or been told contacts are not an option for them. She also delivers pre- and post-operative care for cataract and refractive surgery patients, ensuring seamless continuity between your contact lens care and any surgical procedures performed at our practice.

Together, Joe and Dr. Ribolla bring a rare combination of decades of fitting expertise and advanced clinical training, giving our patients access to one of the most experienced contact lens teams in the Greater NY/CT region.

For patients with irregular corneas or chronic dry eye, standard contact lenses often fall short. Scleral lenses offer a fundamentally different approach. These custom-designed lenses vault entirely over the cornea and rest on the white of the eye, creating a smooth, stable tear reservoir underneath that continuously bathes the corneal surface. The result is sharper vision and dramatically improved comfort, even for eyes that have struggled with every other lens type.

Our team has extensive experience fitting scleral lenses for keratoconus, pellucid marginal degeneration, post-LASIK and post-surgical irregular corneas, severe dry eye, and high astigmatism that cannot be corrected with conventional soft lenses. We also fit hybrid contact lenses that combine the crisp optics of a rigid center with the comfort of a soft skirt, providing another option for patients who need something beyond standard designs.

Every scleral and hybrid fitting at Greenwich Ophthalmology is fully customized. Using advanced corneal topography and diagnostic evaluation, our specialists map the unique contours of your eye to design a lens that fits precisely, maximizing both visual clarity and all-day wearability.

No two eyes are the same, and no single lens works for everyone. That is why we carry a comprehensive selection of contact lens options, including daily disposable, monthly replacement, toric for astigmatism, multifocal and bifocal soft lenses, and rigid gas permeable designs. Whatever your prescription, lifestyle, or wearing preference, we match you with the right lens and ensure a precise, comfortable fit.

For children and teens, our practice offers dedicated myopia management programs using specialty soft or rigid lenses clinically shown to slow the progression of nearsightedness. Early intervention can make a meaningful difference in your child's long-term eye health, and our team has the pediatric fitting expertise to make the process easy and comfortable for young patients.

We also provide specialized fittings for patients with anisometropia, ocular surface disease, and contact lens-related dryness. If you have been told you are not a good candidate for contacts, or if you have had difficulty with lenses in the past, we encourage you to schedule a consultation. Our team routinely succeeds where others have not.