SOFT LENSES UPDATE.
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Jacqueline Cheetham
- Regular contributor
- Posts: 56
- Joined: Sun 28 Mar 2004 4:05 pm
SOFT LENSES UPDATE.
I have now been wearing my new soft lenses for a week and what a difference. At last I am comfortable and although the power still needs to be adjusted I can see..... I can wear them for 14 hours, that is great as I have not worn a lens since November. Yes, I still do have dry eyes, but I use a drop of Refresh and off I go. I had worn sclerals for many years very successfully, and I would ask that any one offered them should try them. But things change and we should be open to that. So far so good. Jacqueline.
Hi Jacqueline,
I was just wondering what these contact lenses was called....if your comfort and vision is as good (if not better) as/then with sclerals that is great news...and are they bigger than normal soft lenses at all...and also how do you find inserting and removing them?...
....anyway thanks for sharing
I was just wondering what these contact lenses was called....if your comfort and vision is as good (if not better) as/then with sclerals that is great news...and are they bigger than normal soft lenses at all...and also how do you find inserting and removing them?...
....anyway thanks for sharing
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sandi sydenham
- Contributor
- Posts: 25
- Joined: Thu 25 Nov 2004 11:41 pm
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Jacqueline Cheetham
- Regular contributor
- Posts: 56
- Joined: Sun 28 Mar 2004 4:05 pm
I'm not going to be much help as to the 'type' of soft lenses I have. Having never seen one before I really don't know if my lenses are larger than 'normal' however they just cover my iris... I got them via Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Huntingdon. They are incredibly easy to put in and remove. No more hanging over the edge of the bed for me. If I get a bubble I blink a few times and roll my eyes around, and it's gone. So easy.... I realise that I am very lucky and fortunate to have at last, hopefully come to the end of my pain and problems of last year. But I don't take it for granted and am very grateful for all the help and advice I have been given. Jacqueline.
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sandi sydenham
- Contributor
- Posts: 25
- Joined: Thu 25 Nov 2004 11:41 pm
Hi Jacquline
It sounds as if your new soft lenses are working really well for you - long may it last.
Do you think you could perhaps ask the hospital for the name/manufacturer next time you're in contact with them?
I'm sure there must be quite a few people out there who would be very interested.
Hope to hear from you
Sandi
It sounds as if your new soft lenses are working really well for you - long may it last.
Do you think you could perhaps ask the hospital for the name/manufacturer next time you're in contact with them?
I'm sure there must be quite a few people out there who would be very interested.
Hope to hear from you
Sandi
sandi
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sandi sydenham
- Contributor
- Posts: 25
- Joined: Thu 25 Nov 2004 11:41 pm
Hi Jacqueline
Hope all's still going well with the new soft lenses. Been searching for more info and have come across SOFT K by Accu Lens made especially for KC . Are these yours? I'm going to talk to my daughter's optician about them and see if she's heard of them and if they'd be suitable(at the moment she alternates between Jack Allen rgp and sclerals).
Take care
Sandi
Hope all's still going well with the new soft lenses. Been searching for more info and have come across SOFT K by Accu Lens made especially for KC . Are these yours? I'm going to talk to my daughter's optician about them and see if she's heard of them and if they'd be suitable(at the moment she alternates between Jack Allen rgp and sclerals).
Take care
Sandi
sandi
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sandi sydenham
- Contributor
- Posts: 25
- Joined: Thu 25 Nov 2004 11:41 pm
Hi
I have been looking into this and unless I've got the wrong lenses it seems there was originally a problem with oxygen but is now ok.
http://www.acuity-lenses.co.uk
http://www.soflexcontacts.com
http://www.uk.cibavision.com
Is this right perhaps lynn could help me on this one?
Sandi
I have been looking into this and unless I've got the wrong lenses it seems there was originally a problem with oxygen but is now ok.
http://www.acuity-lenses.co.uk
http://www.soflexcontacts.com
http://www.uk.cibavision.com
Is this right perhaps lynn could help me on this one?
Sandi
sandi
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Lynn White
- Optometrist
- Posts: 1398
- Joined: Sat 12 Mar 2005 8:00 pm
- Location: Leighton Buzzard
Sandi..
I have answer you on the other forum but do so here as well so others can see the point I am making...
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I have not actually used the lenses you have posted links to - the SoftK- the reality of contact lens fitting for something as specialised as KC is that you tend to find something that works, use it mainly and then back up with a couple of other types.
This explains why there is a variable usage and experience of contact lenses across optometrists' practices.
From what I know of the soft K, it is creating a soft version of an RGP. Its made of thicker material and you fit it rather like a "mini" scleral.
The kerasoft is fitted more like a conventional soft lens. Whereas the soft K is only available in spherical powers, because it seems to compensate for astigmatism like an RGP, the kerasoft is fitted like a toric lens..ie it has the astigmatism powers worked on it.
The kerasoft can also be worked with aberration control on it - this means the optics can be enhanced to give better acuity.
Now your daughter may well have been fitted with the Kerasoft and not got good vision with it. This can be for several reasons, not least the fitting wasn't quite right - I remember my first experiences with the lens gave strange results. Once you get into the fitting techniques, you get better at it! This is another reason why practitioners tend not to skip around lenses - you need experience to get the best out of any contact lens system.
Another reason is that keratoconics tend to be very individual. What works for some will not work at all with others. So the Soft K well may work on people who see well with RGP's but cannot tolerate them.
One problem with any soft lens can be oxygen transmission and this depends on the material - which can again be difficult to obtain in different lens designs.
Soft lens design tends to be different to rigid lens designs. RGP's are often made by small labs who can make the same lens in a range of materials.
Soft lenses tend to be made by larger companies and tend to be material driven. Quite often a good material is heavily patented so that you cannot just decide to try this design in that material. This is, I am afraid, a sign of materialstic times.
With any lens, there is a learning curve associated with fitting it. Practitioners are not omniscient - they need practice and experience and there are not that many keratoconics around for us all to gain experience with. So sometimes, when a lens seems not to work, it does not mean that lens will NEVER work. It may just mean that the particular practitioner could not make it work.
I emphasise this because many people drop out of lenses thinking they cannot be fitted.... and this may not be actually so.
I am sorry if this has wandered from the point somewhat!! But I am trying to make the point that you cannot hail one lens or another as the "miracle lens". They ALL have their place and often a contact lens is only as good as the fitter.........
Lynn
I have answer you on the other forum but do so here as well so others can see the point I am making...
--------------------------------------
I have not actually used the lenses you have posted links to - the SoftK- the reality of contact lens fitting for something as specialised as KC is that you tend to find something that works, use it mainly and then back up with a couple of other types.
This explains why there is a variable usage and experience of contact lenses across optometrists' practices.
From what I know of the soft K, it is creating a soft version of an RGP. Its made of thicker material and you fit it rather like a "mini" scleral.
The kerasoft is fitted more like a conventional soft lens. Whereas the soft K is only available in spherical powers, because it seems to compensate for astigmatism like an RGP, the kerasoft is fitted like a toric lens..ie it has the astigmatism powers worked on it.
The kerasoft can also be worked with aberration control on it - this means the optics can be enhanced to give better acuity.
Now your daughter may well have been fitted with the Kerasoft and not got good vision with it. This can be for several reasons, not least the fitting wasn't quite right - I remember my first experiences with the lens gave strange results. Once you get into the fitting techniques, you get better at it! This is another reason why practitioners tend not to skip around lenses - you need experience to get the best out of any contact lens system.
Another reason is that keratoconics tend to be very individual. What works for some will not work at all with others. So the Soft K well may work on people who see well with RGP's but cannot tolerate them.
One problem with any soft lens can be oxygen transmission and this depends on the material - which can again be difficult to obtain in different lens designs.
Soft lens design tends to be different to rigid lens designs. RGP's are often made by small labs who can make the same lens in a range of materials.
Soft lenses tend to be made by larger companies and tend to be material driven. Quite often a good material is heavily patented so that you cannot just decide to try this design in that material. This is, I am afraid, a sign of materialstic times.
With any lens, there is a learning curve associated with fitting it. Practitioners are not omniscient - they need practice and experience and there are not that many keratoconics around for us all to gain experience with. So sometimes, when a lens seems not to work, it does not mean that lens will NEVER work. It may just mean that the particular practitioner could not make it work.
I emphasise this because many people drop out of lenses thinking they cannot be fitted.... and this may not be actually so.
I am sorry if this has wandered from the point somewhat!! But I am trying to make the point that you cannot hail one lens or another as the "miracle lens". They ALL have their place and often a contact lens is only as good as the fitter.........
Lynn
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