Hello

[Nigel Brodt-Savage]

Just a newbie saying hello, had an appointment with an eye specialist last week (after being nagged for a year by my parents, friends).

The doctor recomended seeing an Optometrist for a contact lens trial (IIRC the optometrist said they would be RGP lenses) so will be getting an appointment with them soon although he felt that they most probably wouldn't work (I assume would be too uncomfortable for me to wear?) due to the advanced stage of KC (right eye unable to focus at all, left eye getting fuzzier, can barely make out a licence plate at approx 5 metres with glasses .. good job I never bothered with my driving licence ? :S ).

I'm hoping the lenses will do the trick, but does anyone know what the doctor will likely suggest if the lenses don't work out?

[mike scott]

hi nigel
welcome to the forum

you say your vision with spectacles is very poor, well hopefully the good news for you is that contacts (rgp,s) is a whole new ball game. there a vast array of types , as in materials that they are produced from that i would be surprised if a comfortable pair couldnt be found for you. with regard to whether they will work at all, well you need to go into contacts with an open mind and prepare to be surprised. if you have only worn glasses so far then i would suspect that your vision could be vastly improved with lenses, however be prepared for them being a little uncomfortable to start with , but the key is to persevere and gently build up your wear time daily over a period of a couple of weeks until you reach an acceptable comfortable time of wear each day for you.

you will undoubtedly recieve more advice from the amazingly warm and friendly people on here.

keep us all posted with your progress and once again welcome.

mike

[Andrew MacLean]

Welcome to the forum

Mike is right, Contact lenses can open a whole new experience of eyesight for the KC patient.

If, for some reason, lenses do not work out for you (which would be extremely unusual), then don't panic. There are other things that your ophthalmologist can try.

Andrew

[Sweet]

Nigel sweet hello there and welcome to the forum!

I am sorry that you need to be here but really glad that you dropped in to meet us! We are very friendly and are always here to help and support others with KC.

As the others here have said there are many contact lenses which you can try. It does look like hard work but it is all about practice and being willing to try. Fitting a lens can be a long and extremely frustrating time for both the patient and optometrist! But keep at it and hopefully you will be rally surprised at the vision you can get!

Without a lens I don't see the eye chart with my left eye and have really poor vision even with glasses. With a lens I can read four lines!

Keep in touch and wishing you all the best!

[Nigel Brodt-Savage]

First off an apology for not replying, I forgot the URL of the board and nothing much was happening at the time anyway.

I've been to the optometric's now a few times and currently have a pair of test lenses (they still need to tweak the fit and prescription a bit) at home to try and get use to them, had them for a day now.

Rather scratchy and in a bit itchy and they move around to much :/ I wore them for about 2 hours yesterday and an hour this morning, the right contact lens keeps going for walks around the eyeball (very disconcerting when a 125 pound contact lens disappears and you cant find it on the table .. panic time!). I guess I am pushing it bit (optometrics did say 30 mins a day) but .. I'm not the most of patient of people and ultimately I do need to get use to contacts, if they are going to work I have no choice in the matter really if my life is to move forward.

I had a fun time this morning when the right contact lens disappeared and ended up on the of the eyeball, fixed that then the left contact lens did the same thing (although most probably because I was rolling my eyeballs and squinting a lot to find the other contact, it normally stays on the cornea), I guess part of the problem is the fit isn't exactly right (Optometric's knows this and hopefully the next pair will fix that) and my eyes are still watering quite a bit.

One thing that is definitely worrying is that both contact lenses seem to be being pulled up slightly by my eyelids, so I have to "stare" a bit before they drop down into position, rather annoying to have a strip of unfocused eyesite along the bottom of my vision.

Thanks for the comments and again sorry for not responding sooner.

[GarethB]

Nigel,

It is very important to be patient, especially as the lens has yet to be tweaked for the correct fit.

A KC cornea is very sensitive and a wandering lens and excessive movement can cause damage. The short term you may feel fine, but it is the long term you need to be thinking about.

Many of the medics and charitable organisations at the launch of Mens Health week on 11th June all said one of the main reasons why men fail to respond to treatment s well as women are the fact we are impationt and rarely follow the practioners advice to the letter which is what women do.

By your own admission you have gone against the medical advice and confirmed the findings of those at the launch of Mens Health Week.

Men and Women are both impatient when it comes to getting our vision back but it is VERY improtant to follow the practitioners advice to the letter.

[donna]

My vision is bad without the lenses, with my left eye I cant make out the top letter but with lens in can see all but the last 2 lines at the bottom. My right eye is getting worse, every time I see my optician I can see less and less. I have had lots of eye tests this year and everyone shows a change in my right eye but with the lens in I am at driving standard.
You need to be patient with the lenses, its important to get it right and that does take time. I have been lucky and taken to lenses really well. I have had 2 lenses for my right eye and now have an excellent fit in both eyes but the vision is changing again, I can tell when I remove my lenses. I really struggle without my lenses in, which made me understand how important it is to get it right and get a decent wear time.

[Nigel Brodt-Savage]

Nigel,

It is very important to be patient, especially as the lens has yet to be tweaked for the correct fit.

A KC cornea is very sensitive and a wandering lens and excessive movement can cause damage. The short term you may feel fine, but it is the long term you need to be thinking about.

Many of the medics and charitable organisations at the launch of Mens Health week on 11th June all said one of the main reasons why men fail to respond to treatment s well as women are the fact we are impationt and rarely follow the practioners advice to the letter which is what women do.

By your own admission you have gone against the medical advice and confirmed the findings of those at the launch of Mens Health Week.

Men and Women are both impatient when it comes to getting our vision back but it is VERY improtant to follow the practitioners advice to the letter.

I know, patiences is not something I'm good at unfortuantly. I'm learning.

They seem more comfortable today but still sliding around, odd they didnt do that at the start but within 5 or so minutes.

Contrast seems a lot more severe with them on, it's very wierd for me, not wearing glasses yet having better (kind of) vision. Well, another 15 mins then time to take them out, going to see if I can use my camera whilst I still have them in .