Problems with lens adjustment - suggestions?

[Jugger]

Hi

It has taken me more than a year trying to get the fitting correct for my RGP lenses. My optician and I thought we had got to a stage where the lenses were correct for both my eyes, but unfortunately my eyes just won't get used to them. I have been trying them for the best part of 4.5 months, and still they don't feel anywhere near comfortable. I have tried getting a different brand of lens fitted but I am still having the same issue. On a "good day" I can have them in my eyes for 6 hours, but my work day lasts far longer than 6 hours.

I have tried the piggy back lenses but these didn't seem to agree with my eyes. I have occasionally tried just having one in my eye at a time and alternating these, but this causes me difficulties at night with the variability of the light, particularly now when it is getting darker, and darker earlier. Now I am stuck as to what to do. My glasses are fine indoors, or in the office, but when out on the road the vision they give me no longer suffices.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can improve the comfort levels of my contacts?

Jugger

[Andrew MacLean]

Jugger

Welcome to the forum.

I wonder, have you tried different lens materials? Sometimes RGP lenses are just not suitable; it is one of the most frustrating things about keratoconus that the perfect solution to one person's problem may prove quite the wrong thing for another.

If you are having lenses dispensed on the NHS scheme, the cost to you will not vary.

Some examples of the sorts of thing that others have found helpful would be :

Scleral lenses (sometimes called Haptic). These vault over the cornea and do not touch it. They are called 'sclerals' because they sit on the sclera (the white of your eye).
Hybrid lenses. A combination of hard and soft lenses.
Soft lenses for Keratoconus. Kerasoft is one such lens and you can find many testimonials to this style of lens on the forum.

Just a word of caution; just because I found my sclera to be the perfect way of managing my condition, does not mean that you will. Just because others find kerasoft a comfortable response to KC does not mean that you will. Still it's always worth a try!

[Jugger]

Hi Andrew

Thanks for the suggestions. I haven't as yet tried any of the alternatives you have offered. My reluctance with the last 2 that you have suggested has primarily been because of the effect on the quality of my vision that these will provide. In terms of the quality of vision that the Scleral lenses offer, how does that compare with that offered by normal RGP lenses? With my eyes, part of the problems is that it feels like the eye lids are rubbing against the lenses which is causing me the irritation. I have tried using eye drops frequently, but this hasn't helped. Will the Scleral lenses potentially be able to ease this problem?

Jugger

[jay87]

Semi sclerals will be more comfortable as they are larger and vault over a less sensitive part of the eye (sclera)

Some people are raving about so2clear lenses. They may be worth a try

[Andrew MacLean]

My favourite lenses of all time are full sclerals. Like their smaller cousins they vault over the cornea, they fit below the eyelid so that there is no abrasion and they are stable on the eye. I had a fenestration drilled to allow for the easier exchange of gasses.

Andrew

[GarethB]

My reluctance with the last 2 that you have suggested has primarily been because of the effect on the quality of my vision that these will provide.

How do you know if you haven't tried these?

I have been wearing soft lenses for KC now for more than four years on grafted eyes, one of which is influenced by a return of KC in the host cornea, without lenses I see less than 6/60, with lenses I see 6/4.5.

The modern soft lenses have a comparable oxygen permeability to RGP lenses, unbelieveable comfort, I werar mine all my waking hours, the best I could get in the end with RGP's was 1 hour and the best vison was 6/9.

As you can tell we all have our preferences, mine are the soft lenses for KC, Andrwew has his sclerals so we unfortunatly people with KC can't really exclude a particular lens, we just work methodically through the options.

Hospitals start with the cheapest which is RGP corneal lenses, then the soft lenses for KC through the semi-sclerals to the full scleral lens that as far as I am awaree (depending on design) can be the most expensive lens option to the NHS. We as the patient pay the same price regardless.

[Jugger]

Jay87

Thanks for your input. Not having any experience of these, do you know the difference between semi sclerals and full sclerals? May I ask why you chose the former over the latter?

Jugger

[Jugger]

Andrew

Thanks for getting back to me. Is the fitting process for the full sclerals the same as that for the RGPs? My employers have been getting concerned by the amount of time I have been taking off work to get my eyes sorted, thus I ask. The fenestration, what benefit does this afford as compared to not having that done? How do these compare to the RGPs in terms of getting them in and out of your eyes?

Jugger

[jay87]

Semi Sclerals are smaller in diameter than sclerals, but bigger than corneal RGPs. They cover some of the white of the eye, but not all of it. Some people find the size of full sclerals off putting, and the technique of putting them in and taking them out can take some time to get used to.

[Jugger]

GarethB

Thanks for contributing to my thread.

Being a researcher, I work off averages, thus I had said what I said based on the literature on KC lenses and the words/ recommendations of the opticians and ophthalmologists I have spoken and dealt with. While you assert that we methodically go through all the options, if it takes me the same length of time to go through the 4 options you state as it did for the RGP ones that I am using now, I will lose my job.

I want to go private to get the lenses made up because of the delays in getting them sorted via the NHS, thus (while appreciating that there is no one universal solution) looking for information, based on users' views, on which option to go forward with when I do so.

Jugger