Piggy back lenses

[Sweet]

Hey there!

Went for a lens check up at Moorfields yesterday, was supposed to be for sclerals, but i had to admit that i don't like them, found them too difficult to put in and then couldn't see well, so have given up. Also i only really had them so that i could try my left eye which has never seen anything, and now that it is grafted i don't need anything yet.

The optometrist was ok with it, and asked what i wanted, and so after trying most things asked fo a piggy back system as it seeme that some of you here get on well with it. The only problem i have with this RGP is that it dries out my eye too much and i always have a red eye, so having a soft lens underneath might help with that

I use systane twice a day anyway (sshhh maybe more!), and i also use viscotears at night, but no matter what i seem to do this lens dries out in no time.

If it wasn't for that i don't really have a problem. true with all the eyesight problems i have had this year i have lost some vision, going from 6/6 to 6/12, but i have to say that this is getting better as only a month ago it was 6/24 so i am going in the right direction! Every optometrist i see tells me that this lens is a perfect fit (it's from my old optometrist back home who has been fitting them for me for years) and that they see no problem except for a lot of dry areas. So i take it that if this isn't a lens problem, then my eyesight is just getting worse.

But anyway ... as complaining about eyesight wasn't what i wanted to post about, i now have a slight problem! (LOL Again!) This soft lens looks very fragile and very breakable to me, although i have just spent half an hour playing with one to see! I just have a problem that i can't tell which way up it is, and i know i can get it inside out. But how am i supposed to tell? I can't see well enough as she said for her to give me marked ones, and as daily ones are too drying i have monthly, which means i DO have to take it out and clean it!

She was asking am i ok with cleaning two, and i thought well yea, as it is only one eye after all right? I'm just hoping that this works and it is a lot more comfortable, and i don't put them in inside out! LOL!

I wore them for five hours yesterday, but it is always easy when someone puts them in for you! Kinda like the hairdressers, when you leave you know you are so not going to have it looking the same ever again!!

So ... any advice would be helpful! It does feel better, and my lens sits on it nicely so i hardly feel it, just needing some advice on cleaning (as i'm sure i'll break it) and i hate taking it out pinching it. Whoever said soft lenses were easier then corneals are wrong, as at least i know which way to put them in!!!

On the graft situation everything is fine! Six weeks have now gone by, and though i don't see any better i know it is still VERY early days! I can't feel the stitches and even though putting in eye drops four times a day kills me working shifts it is a small price to pay i think! I have a check up with the surgeon Friday so will let you know how it goes!! Am i going to ask any questions???!! Ahhh YEA! Like when can i swim again, as waiting to see doesn't really bother me after 13 years with no vision anyway!!!!!!! LOL

Love Sweet X x X

[rosemary johnson]

Hi Sweet, and good luck with the piggybacking.
I've fairly recently started piggybacking with a scleral.
My soft ones are daily disposables, and yes, don't they look thin and flimsy?!
Can't advise on cleaning them, though, being d.d.s.
I haven't yet (so far as I can tell) damaged a soft lens - though if I take the lenses out when I'm in bed (after sitting up reading) and bung the soft lens in the case with the scleral rather than chucing it straight in the bin, the next day it looks very odd - rather like a scap of cellopane wrapping off a pack of fags.
How to get them the right way round? - well, the method I've come across is to "pinch" it together, as if gently starting to fold it in half. If it's right way in, it will all curve inwards, a bit like a bivalve shellfish (cockle, or rounded mussel) closing. If it's inside out, it will look more like two saucers back to back and curling outwards.
Of course, this would be far easier to tell if one had one's contacts in already to look at it with!!
The other theory I've heard, about mine at least, is that as they are minimal=power and just there to act as a cushion, it doesn't matter even if they are "inside out".
Rosemary

[Richard Godbolt]

Hi Sweet, glad you seem to be making good progress.

Re the piggy backs, have a look at my post 10 September under the topic "Piggy Back lens system". I really think the daily disposables are 100 times easier ( no cleaning, ripping and breaking , no wondering which side is which and, most importantly in my case, 1000 times more comfortable.)These new lenses are designed specifically to keep your eyes moist, they really do work and so should help you .So I am surprised your dailies made your eyes dry.......( were they accuvue ?)


I had the same query re which side is in/out but Rosemary's method is pretty good and as she says, I'm not sure it really matters which way round with these thin lenses.
Just another tip, if like me, you have problems taking them out, especially if they have no prescription to show whether they are still in or not - if you cannot tell whether they are still there gently touch your cornea with your finger tip. If there is the slightest stinging sensation or discomfort then you have no lens in ( I guess the tiny amount of salt on your finger will irritate the eye ) If you can touch your eye without feeling it then your lens is still there! Also, to remove a soft lens I find that pressing slightly harder above and below the cornea when flicking out the hard lens will often remove the soft one at the same time. If not, swill the eye with saline in an eyebath, try again and it will pop out much more easily.

Good luck and keep on keeping on!!!
Richard
XXX

[Sweet]

Thanks for that!

I do find it a lot more comfortable, and was able to wear my lens for 17 hours the day before last (not by choice but needed). I haven't tried disposable ones, though i would prefer not to have to clean and play around with them. The hospital said dailies are more drying, though i haven't really heard that. am back in three months so may mention it.

I decided that it didn't really matter which way round this lens went, although you have a 50% chance of getting it right!! Am just glad that my RGP is more comfortable and my eye isn't so red. Vision isn't quite as good, but that isn't really a problem, and could be the way i am cleaning/inserting this soft lens. (It is a focus night and day), i just think that practice is the key!

Will keep trying!
Thanks again

Sweet X x X

[Lynn White]

Hi Claire...

Glad to see you back in lenses )

You actually only mentioned the important part right at the end...that they are Focus night and day. This means they are silicon hydrogel lenses which is one of the best tolerated soft lens materials and usually used for extended wear (ie sleeping in them). Its a good material to use for piggy back as it lets oxygen through really well and if you do shift to a daily you may not get the comfort or length of wear.

Silicon hydrogels are quite tough actually and its early days yet. The important thing is that the system is working after all the hassles you have had over the last year with lenses etc,...so my advice would be to give it a bit more time to get the hang of them!

Glad to see you "seeing" again.

Lynn

[Sweet]

Lynn,

Thanks for that! It is actually ok, was just worried about it being inside out but am getting the hang of it now. Hehe!

On cleaning it i can't complain really, as i only have one eye to sort out and always have. Though it is rather daunting to have so many different solutions and ways to clean them both, but i can't complain when it is so much more comfortable. Am just sorry that i didn't try this before instead of waiting for sclerals, but we are all different, and i know that sclerals work very well for some.

I'm just VERY attached to my RGP, just not the dryness i get, and find putting one in so much quicker and easier than trying to insert a scleral lens. I now take it to work and put it in there, as that gives me an extra hours wearing time which is wasted really on the tube! So am hoping that things continue on the up.

Take care
Love Claire X x X