Night driving problem

[TomV]

Hello,

I am Tom (Netherlands), 38, in 2006 diagnosed with KC. I get good vision but get considerable glare in the evening and night while wearing RGP's; Rose K post graft & a normal RGP; these light stripes were much less in the past while wearing soft contacts; every time now the RGP lens moves or while blinking I get light blurring, night driving has become a serious problem: I already have got the largest diameter RGPs, so getting bigger is not an option. Would Kerasoft or Clearkone a better way to go? Any suggestions anybody? Thanx! Everyone a healthy 2012.

[Andrew MacLean]

Tom

Welcome to the forum. It is always good to say hello to someone from Europe.

I wonder whether your blink may not be closing your eye properly so that you are leaving a deposit on your lens just at the place that you need to be able to see through. One way of checking this is to exaggerate your blink, making sure that your eye closes properly before opening it again.

Every good wish, and all the best for 2012 when it comes.

Andrew

[TomV]

Hello Andrew,

Thank you for your kind response.
I think the blink does not leave deposit on my RGP's. The flare and glare from (car) light but also Xmas tree lights has something to do with al large pupil by night. I get more distortion I guess by the cone. How do you cope with night driving at the moment?

Again, a happy change of the year in a few hours,

Gr Tom

[Jaimz]

Hi Tom

I can sympathise with your problem. I had problems with blurring lights and actually stopped driving early last year. I don't know about wearing contacts as I couldn't cope with them but am wondering whether you have tried scleral lenses which go over the whole front of the eye, resting on the white parts.

The biggest worry for me was that if I had an accident and it was attributed to my condition then it could affect any claims made against me. Have you notified your insurance company?

I have now been cleared to drive by the UK license issuer and my insurance company.

Jaimz

[GerardPMD]

Hi Tom! Is the glare variable between blinks, or is it more or less constant? Do you naturally have wide pupils?

I wear a semi-scleral rigid lens (SO2Clear) and often see transient "circular patterns" around bright lights at night, or whenever my pupils are huge (I naturally have very wide pupils). The distortion tends to change after blinking, and in fact I can sometimes get rid of it by moving my eye around (as opposed to distortion/ghosting caused by the Keratoconus, which is constant). I concluded that the optical zone of my lens is simply not big enough. Though your problem might be different?

[TomV]

Thanx for your responses.

The halos change with every blink. I find it very hard to drive by night, although it is not forbidden because my visual acquity is good. Now I have given up night driving, at least for a while.
How do you cope with night driving? Did you give up on it, or are you able to drive despite halos and glare by night? Not afraid getting involved in an accident? How did you learn to drive then despite of the problems caused by keratoconus?
I am going to try scleral lenses now again. I had one in my left worse eye earlier, but this eye went red all the time because of this lens and the lens got cloudy very quickly. Any suggestions?

Tom

[Ian Anderson]

Have you tried polarised sunglasses to cut down the glare / flair?

Perhaps some very slightly tinted ones may be the answer to you night driving.

Ian

[TomV]

Yes, but I still see these big reflections unfortunately...