UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

Following my cataract procedures, I have been trying to get new lenses for both eyes which is effectively like starting from scratch.

After my third attempt to get a lens which didn't "kill" in my right eye I left the hospital thinking I would be getting a lens which would give me the BEST vision in this eye for 20 years or so. I could see almost to the last line of the Snellen chart. Even better, I received the lens within a week.

I excitedly inserted the lens and guess what, I couldn't see a thing .

I went back to the hospital yesterday and the optom confirmed that the lens had been made to the prescription in accordance with the file notes.

I sat through a new eye test and this time the prescription was very much in line with those of my first two lenses and as such inferior and totally different from the third test which gave such good vision .

Any answers please

I also had very good vision out of my first new left lens but I have now been told the centre was touching the cornea because it was sitting to flat (even though I was not feeling discomfort) and I now have a better fitting lens but inferior vision. I have been warned against the temptation to wear the first left lens because of the risk of corneal abrasion etc. Damn!!!

So good fit = poor vision and vice versa.
What a dilema! Is it time to try a different kind of lens? Maybe a tighter fit could be tolerated in a more flexible lens?
Good luck!

Can it have something to do with the optical properties of the implant? I am following this with interest because I have also had cataract surgery and hope not to have to go back to poor sight ever again!

Andrew

I think there are cases where the lens thickness becomes limitting, so a steeper lens the harder it might be to get enough correction for the rest of the vision anomolies.

Therefore a point comes where a compromise has to be reached between vision and comfort.

Sorry, I didn't mean to convey that I now have poor sight; it's just not quite as good as it could have been in each eye for different reasons.

I guess the flatter the lens is the better the vision and the more it sits off the cornea the poorer the sight is, so a compomise is necessary and presumably this applies to all KC sufferers.

The optoms at the hospital had no explanation for the "rogue" prescription which promised such excellent vision but which turned out to be worse than useless and I would love to get to the bottom of this.

Another mystery of life I suppose

Michael,

Looking back at my diary I experienced something simlar in 2005 and when I tried the Kerasoft.

Although the lens fit was good and the lens refit promised the earth I could see nothing when trying the lens. This was because for some reason the lens was not rotating to the correct position so throwing all the numbers out.

My lenses are supposed to have a dot on them so the optom can see at what angle they sit on my eye and if the KC changes the dot will be in a different orientation.

I wonder too if the cataract treated eye is still getting used to a lens so has subtley changed shape so needing further fine tuning?

Michael
Sorry to hear you are having so many problems. I am a bit confused (as I bet you are too!) and as one who has also had cataract surgery I would ask what your previous prescription was and what is it now? It will obviously depend on what strength and type of lens the Consultant put in when he did your op.
To give you a clue, before my op I was short sighted to the tune of about -2.75 to to -3.25 (my KC obviously meant it varied a bit) whereas now, with an RGP in it is around 0.00! So although I need an RGP to correct the KC problems I am not short sighted any more. For distance I can read the third line up from the bottom of the chart as long as I have a "powerless" RGP in to compensate for the KC. But I do need reading glasses of around +2.5.

So what can you not see with your new lens - is it distance or close up vision that is affected - or both? Have they tried you with a plain RGP lens in and then done an eye test? That is what my local optician did and has adjusted my soft lens power to compensate for the RGP being wrong. By the way this is all with my left extremely dominant eye - although it makes no difference with both eyes open!

Like several of you, I had cataract surgery in my first eye and expected to lose all the extra images......well they have persisted. Perhaps they are the distortion caused by the bumps between stitches etc. I lost the ability to read or focus anywhere nearby and now wear a magnifying visor ato work and at home as no reading glasses I have tried will allow any useable focus.

Next week I willl be seeing my optometrist, or rather a whole stack of them, about eleven in total (extra images, you know...) who may be able to fit me with a scleral lens to bridge the bumps and clarify my vision.

Overall, I think I may have been better off with mild cataracts and my own, God given lens.

Piper

Andrew and Gareth.

I went to see the consultant who did my cataracts this morning and he thought the right lens fit was good but could do with a minor adjustment here and there and that the left lens was a little flat. He thought I should be able to get a steeper lens without reduced vision. As I am still having discomfort, particuularly with the right lens, I suspect I'll be returning to MEH to try and sort this out.

He said there may have been a minor change to the cornea but nothing significant.

I don't think the cataract procedures have had any affect other than to give me significantly improved vision so no need to worry Andrew .

I was advised that there is a 1 in 10 risk of needing minor laser surgery at some time in the future, but no doubt you have already researched this.

Pat A

You are too technical for me . Whilst I have details of my current prescription I have no idea of my pre cataract details but I do know the prescriptions are totally different.
I know my intraocular lens was calibrated for better distance vision and I wear reading glasses to read, computer etc. Distance vision is pretty good.

Anyway, I am reasonably happy with things and hopefully the discomfort problem will either resolve itself or at worst perhaps one final visit to MEH will sort it.

Michael
Sounds like you are in the same baot as me then for distance and reading. (Is that OK - not too technical!)

Piper
My sentiments exactly - I honestly wish I had never had my mild cataract op done - seems to be the main cause now of all my problems and made my ghosting/multiple imaging worse than before.