Advice needed

[Warwick Taylor]

Hi everybody

Thought it was about time I made use of the Forum to ask for some help.
Diagnosed with KC in both eyes in 1995 and eventually after moving to a different part of the country found a consultant who understood the condition. Eventually I had a graft in my left eye in August 2002 (right eye still OK with KC lens in at the moment) but since then every contact lens (about 10 in total!!!) I have had fitted doesn't fit comfortably or given me clearer vision. The specialist has now seem to have run out of ideas.

There must be some post graft patients out there who couldn't get a lens to fit???? Any suggestions as what to do now as it is starting to get me down now????

Thanks

[GarethB]

Well Warwick, I am post garft (18 years right eye, 17 years left eye). Left lens fit is fine as that eye is not too far from normal. The right eye is the issue for me as the old cornea the graft is attached too developed KC again 18 months ago!!

My optom told me fitting a lens to my ye was like making a lens for two eye. Firstly he had to compensate for the graft and the scar around it and the for the KC pulling the graft out of shape. I do not fit any of the prediction charts, so using his knowledge and me as a pain meter we tried a few lenses. Neither were comfortable, however he allowed time for the lens to settle while he saw other patients and I slotted in here and there. 6 hours later we worked out what the best two were and he requested on made half way between the two to be made and 6 mm diamater. This small lens meant that the edges were closer to the cornea and allowed the eyelids to move over the rim easier as that was the source of discomfort. The lens rim rubbing the eye lid. The fact the side fit was not the worlds best was fine as eye lids go up and down so that is the important one to get comfortable. This lens lasted me 11 months with no comfort issues. I think my eye has changed again, so on Tuesday 4th October we go through the process again.

Last year we got lucky and the halfway special combination worked fine. Hopefully we will get lucky again. The type of RGP lens I have is the Rose K style.

The other option might be a Scleral lens as this does not touch the cornea, so might be more comfortable. Also you may get good vision if the post graft prescription is milder than that for advanced KC which is where I think most scleral lenses are prescribed.

Hope this helps, but feel free to ask more questions.

Regards

Gareth

[Warwick Taylor]

Thanks Gareth for your help.

At least I now know that I'm not alone in hanging around for 6+ hours trying various lenses at the optom!!. I have tried Scleral lens, which was larger than I thought, which for comfort was about the best but it unfortunately kept falling out everytime I looked right or left.

I think, like you, I need to be lucky inorder to solve my dilemma

Good luck on the 4th

[jayuk]

Warwick

On the back of Gareths post, you may also want to try the larger diameter Intra-Lymbal lens which have also proved very useful for post graft eyes

J

[rosemary johnson]

Scleral lenses *falling out* when you looked right or left??
Are you sure these were the true, full-size sxlerals and not the "mini-sclerals" some people have been trying?
A full-size scleral is about 24mm diameter.
If the ones you tried were significantly smaller than that, you could try the full-size ones.
If full-sized ones were falling out, you're very unusual!
Rosemary