Quicktopic posts: Mar 2002

General forum for the UK Keratoconus and self-help group members.

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Ian - Oxfordshire

Postby Ian - Oxfordshire » Tue 05 Mar 2002 6:19 pm

WARNING: A potentially controversial posting as with all alternative forms of treatment!

Has anyone had any success with the Bates Method - search for it on google.com. This seems to be a way of training your eyes to see better. You can get books on it.

Of course for KC it's not going to make the condition go away but it may help us optimise the vision we have and avoid eye strain.

Your views ?

Ian - Oxfordshire

Postby Ian - Oxfordshire » Tue 05 Mar 2002 6:30 pm

Paul,

Re: Topography machines.

I have seen one at my eye hospital. In this case it was an optical device connected to a PC.

You put your eye up against the receiver which has a spiral background - then a red LED (or possibly low power laser) seems to be involved in "taking a picture" which is then printed out as a contour map. Presumably it's detecting the reflection and converting this into different voltages - much like a CD does - different voltages converted to different colours on the map.

I have also heard of wavefront technology which is used in laser treatment and this I guess must track the contours of the eye more accurately.

I can't believe it would be that difficult to build one - the software and calibration may be tricky. A concern would be over the safety of low power laser but if it could be done with LED it may not be an issue.

Go for it! We can then all publish our cornea contours on this site!

Regards, Ian.

Hewitt Catherine

Postby Hewitt Catherine » Tue 05 Mar 2002 11:59 pm

Out of Office AutoReply: Keratoconus

I am out of the office until Thursday 7th March. You can contact me about anything urgent on 0774 863 7555

Jacqueline Cheetham

Postby Jacqueline Cheetham » Wed 06 Mar 2002 5:39 pm

Re: Topography Machines.

I had an eye test at a hospital in The Middle East and my eyes were examined with the topography machine. I found it very helpful as the contours showed the 'high' points as being not in the middle of my eye as I had imagined, but in the lower half of my eye. I had not had this shown to me at all in this country. Do Moorfields have one of these machines?

Dave Hamblett

Postby Dave Hamblett » Thu 07 Mar 2002 8:26 am

Helo all
I had my first consultancy at Coventry and Warwick hospital a couple of weeks ago and had my eyes measured on the topography machine there. However when i was at LRI (leicester royal) i did not see one. It seems a very good idea as i assume they can keep track of the progession of the KC, my scan also showed the high points to be off centre as i would expect. Dave Hamblett




>From: Quick Topic daily digest
>To: davehamblett@hotmail.com
>Subject: Keratoconus
>Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2002 22:58:42 -0600 (CST)
>

MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: Click Here < replied-to message removed by QT >

Alice Caudle

Postby Alice Caudle » Thu 07 Mar 2002 1:25 pm

Hi Everyone,

Just looking for a bit of advice.....

I have my next eye appointment on Monday and have been trying sclerals for a while. I just wanted to know if anyone had the same problem as me, which I'll explain. Since being diagnosed with KC I have tried hard, soft and scleral lenses (not sure of all the technical terms) Apart from encountering the usual problems ie. popping-out, soreness etc. there is one thing that has been common with all the lenses and that is that I just can't see out of any of them!

I have read that a lot of people have been successful on this site with lenses which is why it is good that I can ask you for advice. I realise that the fit of the lens is very important to achieving good vision, but there seems to be no difference at all in the vision between different lenses. It is different from my vision with glasses, less disorted, but still blurry and I am unable to continue wearing lenses due to this poor vision.

Everytime I walk in to see my optician and he asks how everthing is going I always have the same answer 'Fine, but I still can't see!'

Is it just a matter of finding the correct fit? The other day he tried some on me that worked and then said I couldn't have them because they pushed on my cornea and this would be bad. Understandable yes, but also frustrating. If sclerals can't touch your corneas and the space is filled up with liquid, shouldn't I be able to see with my current ones even if the fit isn't quite right, or at least slightly better/worse than the last pair.

I have been trying contact lenses now for 8 years and have never worn a pair except for to try them out and find out they are not right. I have relied on my glasses from the beginning, but have reached the stage where driving is a problem so would really like a better solution.

I'm only being seen about once every 3 months. It's amazing how quickly another year comes round and I realise there's been no progress. Is there any way of speeding things up, except for to go private, do you reckon? My optician is really nice and optomistic. It would be lovely to be able to go in and have lenses that work!

Anyway, excuse the essay.
Any advice before Monday would be great
Alice x

Amanda Stigle

Postby Amanda Stigle » Fri 08 Mar 2002 2:54 pm

Hi Alice

Amanda Stigle

Postby Amanda Stigle » Fri 08 Mar 2002 2:57 pm

Alice, yes that's a difficult one! E-mail me on astigle@aol.com and we can talk further.

Jay

Postby Jay » Sat 09 Mar 2002 7:03 am

Alice

When you say "You cant see" whatdo you mean by that in terms of vision...ie do you achieve 20/40 20/60 etc. I think there is a trade off with different lenses.....You will not get sharp vision with Scelerals as you will with say Corneals due to the way in which they work.

In my case, I can get 20/40 / 20/20 with Corneals, and with Scl. I can get minimum of 20/40 and above.

Its a pain but you get there in the end...maybe change your lens fitter? Where do you currently get your lenses?

Alice Caudle

Postby Alice Caudle » Sat 09 Mar 2002 9:52 am

Hi Jay,

Thanks for the reply. To be honest I don't really know what vision I achieve with the lenses, as I'm not that sure what determines whether its 20/40 or 20/60 etc. It's really interesting what you said about maybe not being able to achieve such sharp vision with scleral lenses.

My vision with the lenses so far is that I can see a lot better outside when it's light than when I'm inside with artifical light, which is exactly the opposite to when I'm wearing glasses. If I look at the chart at the opticians I can read half (ish) down the chart, but then if I look away and try and read something of the same size on the wall it is not possible.

I go to the hospital in Cheltenham. They seem to be quite good as they know all about sclerals and have one of those topography machines. However, I know there are some corneal specialists around which I guess could be a further option.

What are corneals? Are they hard lenses?
Thanks for the advice. I will keep perservering!
Alice


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