Advice for contact lenses pricing please...

[Grant]

I manage 16 hours a day 7 days a week with hybrids. When I had kerasofts they were needing to be taken out after 12 or so hours so what I did was wear glasses for the commute to work and then put then lenses in around 9am. Wearing the glasses after lens was just too much of a step change in vision.

[GarethB]

With my Kerasofts I get at least 16 hours wear 7 days per week and have no need to switch to glasses because I can wear them for longer if necessary.

The softer lenses have little moulding effect on the eye compared to an RGP so the transitin to glasses is easier. When I had RGP lenses I had to have a glasses fitting immediatly after I took the lenses out because of this mouldnig effect. This meant glasses were useless fit thing in the morning and it was just too expensive to have one pair for the mroning and another for the evening and the costs of these was as much as 12 months fo lens solutions for RGP lenses.

Now with the soft lenses, the cost of the lenses through the hospital and the solutions that I need to pay for are 60% less than the cost of looking after RGP lenses and needing two pairs of glasses,

As I wear my lenses all my waking hours I no longer bother with glasses because I can only get limited vision with glasses for the one eye.

[CrippsCorner]

Thanks for you input there guys, very useful... it makes sense that you had a new glasses prescription, I hadn't thought of that.

I'm just trying to understand what hard lenses do, how do they reshape your cornea to be different?

I guess one of my earlier questions still holds though, if you where to wear glasses through the morning/afternoon and contacts in the evening, you wouldn't need a new prescription in your glasses, but the other way round, you would.

[Lia Williams]

Hi Cripps Corner,

I think that is well worth having a pair of back-up glasses if your unaided vision is poor. For years I understood that glasses were of no use to me. A few years ago I discovered that, although they would never provide the vision of contact lenses, they would provide some vision. Unaided I can't see the eyechart, never mind read it. My glasses prescription is high, about -11 in one and -13 in the other. As I hadn't worn glasses for years (more than 25) it took me some considerable time for my brain to learn how to see with glasses again as everything was very distorted. However with my glasses I can now see the chart with my right eye and read the 6/9 line with the left.

I wear my glasses for upto an hour in the morning while I'm getting ready for work. They would have been useful for seeing to my children in the night when they were small and they would also be useful if the fire alarm were to go off when I'm away on business. The downside is of course the additional expense as high prescriptions need high index lenses.

Lia

[GarethB]

Basically RGP lens as the name suggests are rigid and as such come in slightly different shapes and can't be exactly matched to the shape of your eye, so the fit is a compromise, i.e the optometrists tries to find a lens that best matches the shape of your eye.

Therefore the lens may be a little tight so draw the cone out slightly or slightly loose or flat so pushing the cornea back slightly and over time the cornea takes on this shape more and more which is why you hear about demoulding when transitioning from a hard to a soft or scleral lens which may have a moulding effect but far far less than an RGP.

The result of a tight fit is that the oxygen transfer to the cornea can be compromised as can comfort because the lens can't move as freely as is ideal to circulate the tears and oxygenate the cornea but vision can be extremely good.

A looser fit lens can compromise vision when you blink as the lens moves / spins but you get good tear flow.

In both cases optometrists I have spoken too only recommend a maximum of eight hours lens wear the typical average working day with a 30 minute lunch break, so if you see for work, what do you do about seeing to get too and from work and what about the rest of the day?

You will see many posts going back over the years talking about bad eye days and in nearly all cases these relate to RGP lenses being over worn and causing problems, the most common of which is scaring on the cornea, ulcers and so on. Take any hard object and rub it against a soft part of your skin and over time it will become sore!

To a lesser extent I have heard that sclerals can cause bad eye days as the saline used to fill them goes stale over the wear period, to date I have yet to hear about this happening with silicon hydrogel based soft lenses.

On the flip side there are many people who manage perfectly well with RGP's and any support group by and large shows the more extreme cases of a condition, because those who manage perfectly well don't feel they need support so never post after initial visits to a forum.

It is a shame hospital optoms don't have more time to spend with us because to get a lens that is right for us we and they need to be looking at the bigger picture to balance vision with lens type and lifestyle. Many people get hung up no wanting 6/6 vision but in the 'normal' community this isn't really the case. You can work quite happily doing display screen work and driving with 6/9 vision which is inside the driving standard. 6/12 is also acceptable because you can safely drive a car according to the law, but it is always nice to have a safety window should you be having an off day.

[CrippsCorner]

Thanks Gareth. Just got back from a 3 hour appointment at the hospital! To be honest I found them pretty helpful and they gave lots of advice. I was still unsure whether to pursue with soft/hybrid/hard lenses but in the end, we decided to try RGP's, specially Rose K2's. I didn't actually find them that much more uncomfortable than the Kerasoft, although I could definitely feel irritation after each blink... still, that should get better over time, right?

I did however, get a slight "Oh, wow" moment when I opened only the eye with an RGP lens in and noticed hardly any shadowing around letters, a beautiful sight I've not seen in a long time! I'm currently considering what my options are regarding long term wear... the most annoying aspects of wearing glasses for me are driving, and watching television. I'm thinking of perhaps wearing the contacts on the drive to work, taking them out and putting my glasses on at work, then putting the contacts back in before my drive home and then leaving them in all evening.

Obviously I won't know how it's going to be until I get them, but to anyone with experience, does this sound feasible? Cheers.

[Lia Williams]

Hi CrippsCorner,

I pleased that you have had a successful lens fitting.

I'm thinking of perhaps wearing the contacts on the drive to work, taking them out and putting my glasses on at work, then putting the contacts back in before my drive home and then leaving them in all evening.

This wearing schedule sounds like it would work while your eyes are adjusting to the lenses as you will need to build up wearing time. Ask the optometrists what they recommend for you. I've worn Rose K lenses in the past and usually wore them for 15 hours a day. I find it best to wear my glasses while I'm getting ready for work in the morning and put my lenses in just before I leave the house. I then take them out at bedtime. At the weekend I tend to put them in later in the day to give my eyes a rest. I know that if I go over 16 hours one day I'll need to reduce the wear time for the next couple of days otherwise my eyes won't feel quite right. You'll learn what works best for you and how to avoid the dreaded 'bad eye day'.

Lia

[CrippsCorner]

Thanks Lia, it's encouraging to see some people are able to manage almost a complete day out of RGP's. I guess it's just part of the condition that everyone's different... so I just need to see how I get on I guess.

Can I ask what you did about driving at night? I've seen reports of that being particularly troublesome.

[CrippsCorner]

Slight update, had my second fitting today on the Rose K2's. They seem happy with the fitting, although I notice some movement after blinking on the left eye, but they don't seem concerned... will I get used to this? I was able to read a couple of letters on the bottom row on the eye test which was fantastic, although I noticed some fluctuation and it did vary a bit.

Main thing I wish to ask though... I found getting them in very easy indeed. However getting them out was hard, especially my right eye and basically I couldn't do it. My eye started getting really sore and bloodshot and the optometrist took it out for me. She done this in the end by getting me to open wide like a surprised look, look to the side and blink and it popped out. She said she'll try getting me to do this alone next time but thought my eyes needed a rest for now. Basically, any tips? I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually, but my lenses are there! I want to take them home in 2 weeks time lol.

[Lia Williams]

although I notice some movement after blinking on the left eye, but they don't seem concerned... will I get used to this?

Lenses are meant to move very slightly when you blink and you probably won't notice this movement when you are used to wearing your lenses.

although I noticed some fluctuation and it did vary a bit

You probably won't notice the slight variation on blinking when you are wearing your lenses. There is a difference between reading an eye chart under test conditions and vision in daily life. I have had lenses in which the vision has varied significantly on blinking but you probably won't know if it is a problem until you are used to wearing your lenses. I would suggest that while you are adjusting to wearing your lenses make a few notes to take to your follow up appointment.

I found getting them in very easy indeed. However getting them out was hard

You will find removing lenses becomes easier with practice. Hopefully when you go back to collect your lenses you'll be able to learn the technique. Good luck!

Lia