hi

[Andrew MacLean]

Paul, welcome to the forum.

I do not see that there is any incompatibility between seeing an optician and going to a hospital clinic. Most of us do, or did both.

with regular visits to an Ophthalmologist I also continued to see an Optometrist who kept me in contact lenses of various sorts for many years before I submitted to surgery.

In my experience the Ophthalmologist did not press the idea of surgery on me; he gave advice and I made my decisions on the basis of the best advice he had to offer weighed against a combination of the relative comfort and effectiveness of a succession of contact lenses and my fundamental fear of the scalpel.

I'm sorry we were slow in getting back to you.

Andrew

[jayuk]

on a side note I found it interesting how Paul expected an answer so soon?....clearly he has seen the responses from other posts etc..and thus had an expectation!

Just goes to show how active this board has become and how many people are being helped across the board! ....this place has developed into a real resource for KC'ers!!

Excellent!

(Paul - this is no reflection on you as a person / poster - so No offence intended)

[Louise Pembroke]

It is a good forum. There are forums for other subjects that are nowhere near as busy & vibrant as this one.

[GarethB]

Many opticians can identify KC, but they do have to be careful regarding making a diagnoses which is why we get referred to a hospital.

To have a range of lenses we need to get it right can be costly to an optician and can not always provide subsidised lenses which is another good case for being referred to hospital.

In my 20 years of KC I have found that all will prescribe glasses for as long as possible. How long will they last is unpredictable with KC. Your KC can stabilise for a long period, mine has been stable for 18 months now. 20 years ago I would need a new prescription every month that lead to grafts.

Lenses from a hopstal and glasses are subsidised so you can pay £40 - £50 per eye.

If you can get acceptable vision for your particular lifestyle wearing glasses keep them for as long as you can.

Take your time to go through this site, it has loads of information which you might need to revisit. It is easy to get information overload.

[Sweet]

Hehe we are about! LOL! When i first joined here it was very quiet but i soon started talking and now we are all chatter boxes hehe!

Paul welcome to the forum. I'm not so sure why your optometrist isn't thinking of getting you to see someone at the hospital yet. In my experience in various different places it helps to be referred quickly as it could be a long wait so i would suggest to him that you would like to get a referral done now.

It is good to keep in with an optometrist outside of the hospital as you are more likely to get an appointment quicker there and also some hospitals don't fit lenses they just do regular checks.

It sounds like you are seeing very well right now but there are plenty of lenses if you need them in the future. Grafting is normally the last option so don't panic too much about it at present!

Sweet X x X