Need some advice about sclerals

[Amer]

Hi Rosemary,

Nope, not got my appointment sorted out yet, I was referred by my doctor but someone deleted me off the waiting list for an appointment at gartnavel so i contacted one of the staff (helps that i sent it from my nhs email account from work, i think) in the contact lens clinic, he was supposed to call me back and when he never and i called i was told he's off till monday, I should get my appointment on monday at some point. so it'll be another 2 weeks before i see anyone at the lens clinic. Patience is virtue huh

[Amer]

Hi,

Okay not having a good day, I called back the contact lens clinic at Gartnavel to try and get my appointment and was told that my file hadn't been "vetted" while the gentleman i spoke to was nice i enough i think he managed to get a hold of the CL fitter while i was on the phone who had a look at my file and said that my KC was too steep and that i wouldn't be able to wear contacts not even sclerals, but this is the same CL clinic that tried to fit me with lenses years ago and now i can't be fitted, i know for a fact that KC hasn't changed and it hasn't got any steeper, is there anywhere i can go, because i 'm not having much luck with the gartnevel but i do want to try lenses. As i said in a earlier post i did try rosekey lenses piggybacked on a soft lens, it never worked but when it stayed in place it did make a difference but i was never told not to even try. I just want to exhaust the contact options and right now i've not been given many. Is there somewhere else i can go

[Andrew MacLean]

Amer

KC can deteriorate very quickly, even if it has been stable for a number of years. I can't imagine the Optometrists at the hospital telling you that your situation had changed to the point where lenses are no longer an option if this were not the case. Of course you have a perfect right to seek a second opinion; I think that there are contact lens departments at The Royal and there is certainly one in RAH.

You could also contact the optometry department at The Caledonian University; they might be able to look at your eyes, then there is the option of private sector interventions, we don't pay for eye tests in Scotland. I shall send you a pm with some thoughts on whom you might see.

That said, I wonder whether the time has come for you to consider a surgical option?

All the best

Andrew

Andrew

[rosemary johnson]

Hmmmmm!
SOunds very odd - not changed and now they say it's too steep.
HOw steep do they think is too steep?? - I've had difficulty even seeing where the eye chart IS for several years now, with neat steep "Mount Fuji" central cones and have been wearing sclerals fine.
What's more, mine are regarded as "ordinary", nothing unusual or particularly difficult tomake, by the people who make them.
SOunds to me like the person you got through to onthe phone - an appointments person? - tried to get hold of a CL person in a hurry, and got an answer off the top of their head from someone who may not have been expert in sclerals in particular.
I'd be inclined to get back onto Gartnavel and insist on talking to the scleral expert.
Alternatively, you could even try contacting the makers of scleral lenses and asking who they supply in your area (ie. who fits scleral lenses).
By the way, have you any idea how steep your eye does look? - as viewed from the side, looking straight across towards your nose? (If not, can ou either try a couple of mirrors, or getting a friend with a camera phone to take a picture?) If so, you may be able to compare your "too steep" eyes with pictures of other KC eyes.
Of course, that might show that your eyes really are very very steep after all!
Good luck!
(After my graft, my CL fitter took one look sideways across the grafted eye, sad "Hmmm, that looks like an N5", got an N5-shaped blank scleral lens out of his standard fitting set box, we put it in and it fitted fine. Easy as that. Once you find the scleral enthusiast!)
The other one is an H6 - they come in F(lat), N(ormal) and H(igh) cone standard sizes.
Rosemary

[rosemary johnson]

Forgot to say: scleral lenses manufacturer is Innovative Sclerals Ltd
www.sclerals.co.uk
Don't know if they make all the sclerals in the UK, but certainly a lot (some they supply fully finished, others they supply in half-finished form in bulk to biig hospitals etc and they put the poser on themselves..)
Good luck.
Rosemary

[Andrew MacLean]

Innovative Sclerals supply Gartnavel.

I wouldn't put all my eggs in the one basket; keep pushing for an appointment with the contact lens people at Gartnavel, and continue with your plans to see someone in the private sector.

Actually it is good advice to anyone who has KC who is attending a contact lens clinic: also have your eyes tested for back-up glasses. In Scotland all eye tests are free, and it is important that we have all the other things that are part of the routine eye exam checked as well as visual acuity.

My high street optometrist takes photos of my retinas and keeps me supplied with specs that I wear for my right eye, while Gartnavel supplies my excellent lens for my left.

Andrew

[rosemary johnson]

Back-up glasses, Andrew?
Must be 34 years since I gave up wearing glasses cos all I could see with them on was the its of dust onthe lenses.
Still, for anyone for whom glasses are still any use, good luck with them.
Rosemary

[Amer]

Hi Rosemary & Andrew,

well i've got an appointment with Boots on Sauchiehall Street on Saturday, so i'll see how that goes. Yeah it was the appointments person and he got a hold of someone while i was on the phone, so it must have been someone that was just passing who glanced at my file. But i got the details for Boots thanks to Andrew and the CL fitter is a KC enthusiast, so i'm hoping i'll have more luck, but either way i'll know for definite. If the fitter at Boot's tells me that i can get fitted with sclerals then i'll be back on the phone to Gartnavel and i'll know exactly how steep it is and be able to make a better case when i speak to someone. Its just disheartening thats all.

[Andrew MacLean]

Amer

Don't worry too much about the type of lens: not everybody can wear sclerals (I am no longer able to wear a scleral), but if it seems that you may be able to cope with any sort of lens, or any type of lens material, then you will have made progress.

All the best

Andrew