Perserverance

[Libby]

Hi there,
My daughter was fitted yesterday with a Rose K lens on her right eye. The optician at the hospital says it is a good fit and wanted her to wear it for half an hour the first day, the second day try 2 hours then increase by half a hour per day upto a max of 8 hours. However after the initial excitment (this lasted about 5 mins) I have a very unhappy looking teenager. The lens stopped in yesterday for about 25 mins max and so far no mention has been made about putting it in today. To be honest its that long since I started wearing lenses I can't really remember how I felt and how long it took me to get used to it.
Anyone just been fitted who can give me some advice on how to deal with this, I dont want to be nagging but as her consultant said at our consultation it would be a good idea to get used to wearing a lens whilst there is only one eye affected.
This parenting lark doesnt get any easier does it,
Any advice would be appreciated
Libby

[Andrew MacLean]

Libby

This has to be the hardest thing for a parent to watch.

I remember my first lens fitting. the optometrist put a tiny plastic crucible on the end of my finger and told me to pop it into my eye. This meant that nobody else ever put a lens into my eye until, for the sake of speed, I think, about 20 years into lens wear an optometrist did. I explained to her that I preferred to do that myself, and she made a note in my file so that I was back to dong my own insertion.

Your daughter may have very sensitive eyes. I think that people with KC not only need to wear lenses more than others, but also have more trouble with lens wear than others. This is why lens manufacturers go to such lengths to create for us comfortable materials and optometrists go to such trouble to find the perfect fit.

I do remember wearing Rose K, and for me they were find. This does not mean that your daughter will find them remotely comfortable. While you can encourage perseverance, in the end only she will know whether or not she can tolerate them. If she is really not going to manage, go back to the optometrist and explain that she can't tolerate Rose K. The optometrist will tick them off her list and try something else; different lens material or configuration, or both.

All the best

Andrew

[GarethB]

Libby,

I think you need to sit down with your daughter and understand why she does not want to wear the lens. It could be a number of reasons, but until you understand them it is hard to give any further advice.

For me going back to lenses it was hard, during the test fit, everything was quite comfortable, but the lens had gone in no problem and I think there was a certain amount of adrenalin in my system as I was anxeous as to how well things would go. That in itself can act as an anaesthetic and you don't notice any discomfort.

Once I got home and fiddles around with putting the lenses in, my eyes were quite sore and the lenses were damn uncomfortable and tearing for a good fifteen minutes. It was real mind over matter with a good dose of shear bloody mindedness on my part not to be beaten. As time went on, things did get easier, but I was obnoxeous to everyone in that time because fo the frustrations and discomfort from putting a lens in and taking them out until I was used to them. That took me about 2 months.

A good lens fit does not necessarily mean you can see well, my lens fit is a compromise, it is not the best fit, but gives a reasonable level of comfot with the use fo eye drops and excellent vision and so far there are no signs of damage to the eye. I knwo peopel having vision problems and comfort because an optom refuses to compromise saying the lens fit is text book! No use to us if we are in more pain and still see nothing!

Have a chat with her and if possible share the results with her and then hopefully between all of us on the forum we can come up with some useful suggestions to help.

Regards

Gareth

[rosemary johnson]

Does your daughter see markedly better with the lens in than without?
My MC came up so fast that by the time I got the first lenses, I could see sooooo much better with them in, I wanted them in to see what I was doing as much as possible.
SOrry, KC; can't type.
The lenses I have had problems with since were the ones that were OK walking up the street, but if I tried to read, or see the computer screen, with them, I had to screw my eyes up so much it made them become sore, and it was easier to take them out and read with the paper an inch from my nose.
I suppose I've been lucky - I went straight into sclerals at age 14 (I think) and have always known from almost as soon as one went in if it was likely to be a goer or not.
When I got the first pair, I was on the half-an-hour at a time, build up gradually.
At first, looking ahead or walking in straight lines was OK, but if I wanted to turn corners or look round I had to shut my eyes and turn round all of a piece, like a statue on a rotating plinth, becaue the lens edges caught. Not exactly painful, just a very weird feeling!!
I couldn't bear to put them in or take them out myself - just wasn't getting over the "yuk!" bit to manage to do it. THe fitter - Keith Nelson, on Hamilton Square, Birkenhead - had to teach my mum to do it for me. That lasted till the next weekend, when my mum was in the bath and Dr Who starting in 10 minutes.

Can only suggest you try to find out what your daughter is thinking or feeling about the lenses: if she has a problem, is it that the vision isn't sufficiently better? - or that she's so unused to the new way the world looks it makes her a bit dizzy or disoriented (common with my mum getting new glasses). Is it the YUK! of having something in her eye, dislike of putting the things in, pain of them being in, the edges catching as she moves (I got used to that very quickly, IIRR), the thought of trying to get them out - or the whole turmoil feeling around them of not wanting to have this weird condition called KC, and not wanting to have to be an "odd one out".
Rosemary

[Lynn White]

Rosemary is right, there may be lots of different reasons why she is avoiding the lens and much of it may be due to false expectations. I have this exact same trouble with many of my "normal" teenage patients when first wearing contact lenses. They jump up and down demanding to have them, then when the reality hits that you actually have to put them IN your eyes, there is often a rapid back peddling! And this applies to comfortable disposable soft lenses, never mind a rigid lens that takes building up wear time!

The other problem may be visual adaptation. I fitted a teenage girl with a soft lens in her right eye last week. She had not had good vision in that eye for around a year and the first thing she told me was that the floor came up towards her and everything looked "really weird". The comfort wasn't an issue, but like your daughter, she had been excited about getting a lens and then went very quiet when she got it. Teenagers often want everything to work immediately, (and perfectly!) or its "no good". Sometimes it can be a bit like them nagging to get a pet, then ignoring it hours after the excitement has worn off!

So don't worry too much. If you can talk to her without pressurising her to find out why she doesn't wear it, then do so. You can then come back here for further suggestions.

[Libby]

Thank you for your responses,
I did sit down and speak to my daughter and to my surprise the problem with the lens wasnt the comfort of it (which has always been my problem) but she was alittle frightened of actually putting it in and then getting it out.
We had a long chat and I explained that within a couple of weeks she would have the technique off to a tee. Anyhow she has put the lens in every day now and we are currently up to 3 hours.
She seems a lot happier and today left it in half a hour longer than she should have as she had forgot she had it in - which in my view must be good news.
So far so good
kind regards - Libby