UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

OK so what is everyones record for being fitted with contact lenses?

I had an appointment yesterday to try and get fitted for some more lenses following problems with the Synergise lenses i have been wearing. Wear time reduced to 2 hours every other day pretty much, so we were looking at some other options for me.

My appointment was 11.55am, arrived at 11.40am, went in at 12.00 noon and finally left at 1.30pm. Yep one and a half hours of sunshine was missed by me yesterday, with the exception of a 10 minute walk with one set of lenses in. Am glad she was putting the lenses in and not me, i would have long given up.

My CL fitter planned on trying me with Soclear Sceral lenses. She put various lenses in each of my eyes, the ones that had a good fit from her viewpoint were uncomfortable for me, the ones that were comfortable were a poor fit. She is going to talk to the manufacturer of these lenses on monday and see what can be done with regards to the combinations of the central and peripheral parts of the lenses
She then looked back through all my notes to see what we had tried to see if there was anything we hadnt tried. She realised we hadnt tried the Kerasoft Lenses, so put a pair in, sent me for a walk and told me to come back in 10 minutes. At this point i didnt know what time it was or how long i had been in with her. Right from the off the left eye felt comfortable even in bright sunshine, but the right eye felt like there was something in it and couldnt keep my eye open in the sunshire. good job my husband was with me as i took my glasses off and put on my non-prescription sunglasses (prescription ones had been left in the car), he made sure i didnt knock any little old dears over (oh yeah i forgot there are only chavs in our city centre on a saturday )
When i went back in to see her, told her the feelings, so she did an eyesight check and then took both the lenses out and put me a toric lens in the right eye. That felt comfortable right away, even though my eyes had had enough prodding and poking for the day.

She is still going to talk to the Soclear lens manufacturer on monday, but she is going to order me a Kerasoft lens for the left eye and a toric lens for the right to try this time round, and keep the Soclear lens option for next time.

The fitting of the lenses were not helped by me having had a bad week with my eyes being sore and dry for most of the week, and my left eye was aggravated by me putting face mosituriser in it in the morning

How come the left eye was reasonably comfortable in most lenses, though the fit wasnt right in any of the lenses but the fit was right in the right eye but was all the lenses were very uncomfortable (some more than others)?

Hi Liz,
SOunds promising that you're getting abetter result at the end of the process. Hope the new lenses arrive and work out well.
As regards the fit: I think some of us just don't fit the "rulebook" when it comes to fitting lenses.
My lenses have long broken every rule inthe fitting rulebook, but work like that (with piggybacking in the right eye as a last resort). The ones that match the rulebook I don't see so well out of, and then have to screw up my ee trying to read and that makes the lenses verysore.
Trouble in my case has been, it has taken fitters a while to realise they have to throw the rulebook out the window whenever I walk inthe door, and do what works for me, not what the book says I ought to want!
Maybe you're just another rugged individualist?!!!!!
As for longest tiem to get fitted: I think my record was trying the one I eventuallys tarted piggybacking under.
Fitter came up with the idea of piggybacking with a scleral lens. THis is because the vision is best for me with huge central contact zones under the scleral lenses (which is against all the theory of how sclerals work!) But because of the difference in structures of RGP and the old PMMA (perspex) lenses, the huge contact zone that worked fine in PMMA was gving comfort problems with RGP sclerals.
ANyway, he tried me in the scleral suggested as the top of the piggybacking pair, and the vision was quite "ghosty" but the best we'd got yet for the right eye in years and years, and felt promising on first trial, if I could get used to it.
But that's in a clinic...... so I suggested I could go out and try going around in it and come back later inthe afternoon. He agreed - and I went out, hopped onthe tube up to Parliament Square and joined in a couple of hours of protest rally going on there - cherring some rousing speeches, singing along tot he campaign songs, and completely destroying my street cred amongt the group organising the event by sittingo nthe grass inthe square discussing latest gings-on in the Archers with a friend.
After a couple of hours, the eye was starting to get a bit sore and I reckoned I ought to get back to the clinic and report back, so got the tube back again, noted that by then I could definitely see ghost images of the writing inthe tbe station names but could definitely read them. GOt back to clinic, agreed this might be a go-er and would try the new scleral and if as seemed likely the vision was best-for-ages and wear times not what it might be, would try piggybacking. Ordered lens......
Must have been something like a six-hour consultation, of which nearly half spent at a protest in Parliament Square!
For the record - lens did work out as best vision in right eye for ages, but absolute max wear time of 6 hours, then rest for a day or two, so went to piggybacking, and rapidly went from 1 or 2 days a week to 4 or 5 days a week with that eye - wear time of 12 hours a day or more (sometimes much more) though vision had deteriorated so couldn't read print long before that, and quite a bit of ghosting, so rather surreal. Then had graft in that eye - big mistake......
For fitting in general - there is generally a three-way compromise between a) what the wearer feels in comfortable b) what looks a good fit according tothe rule book and c) how much the wearer can see with the lens in.
From the point of view of the person wearing (or not wearing) the lens, it could look a great fit, and could feel comfy when sitting starng vacantly into the middle distance - but if you work with computers and can't read the screen witht he lens in, it is No Bloody Good. Similarly, if you can see 6/6 vision and read 8 point Ariel (!) but your eye is streaming after half an hour's wear, that's NBG either. And if it's remarkably comfortable, and you can read well in it and drive init, and the fit looks appalling, it may be wonderful short-term and not be good for the eyes inthe long term.
SO there's a compromise there - and some optoms are more willing to compromise one way or the other than others.
Anyway, hope you've found a solution now, and it works out.
Rosemary