Macro Lens Design

I'm designing a device that has a small scale. I put a small magnifying lens (10mm diameter) over the top of the pointer to magnify the area. Currently it sits about 1.5mm above the text/scale. However with this lens it really needs to sit about 9mm over the top of the text to get the ideal magnification. We can design it to sit 9mm over the top, but it really doesn't look good, will block a lot of light from reaching the scale, and it will be prone to damage. so the goal is to keep the current low profile design and keep the lens close to the scale. Is there anything we can do to change the shape of this lens to facilitate this? What would you do to keep the lens as close as possible to the scale? Thank you for any insight!