To Jan Fisher,
You mentioned that you ues a ultra-sonic jewellary cleaner from Argos, can you tell me what solutions you use with it. And you said you have problems with protein build-up how do you counter that?
Also you said you used washing-up liquid with no problems before; have you ever thought of combining the two ideas at all ! Thanks.
Regards.
Sajeev
Keep Your Head Up !
Quicktopic posts: Jan 2004
Moderators: Anne Klepacz, John Smith, Sweet
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Jane Webb
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Sue Ingram
Dear Paul, I agree that scleral lenses do not necessarily work for everyone (I still have to wear glasses with mine), but nor sometimes do corneal lenses, soft-perm lenses, piggy-backing, glasses etc, etc.
We all know we need to find our own solution, however, it often appears that scleral lenses are NOT offered as an option to KC sufferers, whereas the other options do seem to be (including a graft), therefore, I believe it is worth trying to elevate the awareness of sclerals amongst the KC population in order to keep the balance and ensure that everyone knows all the available options in the hope of finding something that works for them. SUE
We all know we need to find our own solution, however, it often appears that scleral lenses are NOT offered as an option to KC sufferers, whereas the other options do seem to be (including a graft), therefore, I believe it is worth trying to elevate the awareness of sclerals amongst the KC population in order to keep the balance and ensure that everyone knows all the available options in the hope of finding something that works for them. SUE
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Sue B - Hertfordshire
Sajeev
I was at Moorfields yesterday for my regular check-up. I was told that my lenses were suffering from protein build up as well. I have been prescribed with protein removal tablets which I am to use once a week. They are called 'AMICLAIR' Weekly Enzymatic Cleaning Tablets and are for use with all RGP and Soft Contact Lenses. Apparently they are readily available from chemists. Hope this may be of help to you.
Everyone Else
I was also told to use artificial tears regularly throughout the day as apparently I have dry eyes. Unfortunately, these were not put on my prescription (not sure if he forgot or if he wanted me to get them elsewhere). After having queued for over an hour at the hospital pharmacy, I was not going to go back and ask! Can anyone on here (with RGP lenses) please let me know what artificial tear solutions they use and where they are available from.
Many Thanks,
Sue
I was at Moorfields yesterday for my regular check-up. I was told that my lenses were suffering from protein build up as well. I have been prescribed with protein removal tablets which I am to use once a week. They are called 'AMICLAIR' Weekly Enzymatic Cleaning Tablets and are for use with all RGP and Soft Contact Lenses. Apparently they are readily available from chemists. Hope this may be of help to you.
Everyone Else
I was also told to use artificial tears regularly throughout the day as apparently I have dry eyes. Unfortunately, these were not put on my prescription (not sure if he forgot or if he wanted me to get them elsewhere). After having queued for over an hour at the hospital pharmacy, I was not going to go back and ask! Can anyone on here (with RGP lenses) please let me know what artificial tear solutions they use and where they are available from.
Many Thanks,
Sue
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Philip - (London)
ANDY,
Reading your post on lenses and pain I can't help but sympathise. I'm 27 and have been wearing lenses for the best part of nearly 14 years. I wear RGP lenses and my eyes have become progressively more intolerant over the past four years.
I understand the depression and agoraphobia well, I have found my issues have limited my progress in my career and held me back from accepting promotion which would force me to travel and attend customer sites more often. I have sometimes also entertained very negative thoughts, especially through server bouts of corneal ulcers or iritus but that passes. I love my job and life!!
Can I address some of your points:
- Pain.
=======
Can you describe the pain? Sounds odd, but I tend to get lots of different pains, on different days for different reasons. Are your eyes excessively dry?
I find pain management is half the battle, over the last 6 months I have started taking pain relieve when needed and as sparingly as possible. My doctor recommended paracetamol based pain killers as they are better long-term than ibuprofen. Additionally try to isolate the cause of the pain.
- Pain - Dryness
To combat the dryness I use Hypromellose eye drops when needed. (£1.40 from boots) these contain a preservative so you can get more of a build-up on the RGP’s and I find I need to use protein removal tablets more frequently (Every 3 weeks) I also use Viscotears gel at nights. Oddly enough I find eating various foods or drinking has an effect on my dryness and level of redness/general soreness the following day.
Water – Drink lots it makes a big difference, but not too much as it has a negative effect.
Diet/Sugar Free drink/food – One of the greatest side-effects caused by the chemicals (aspartame) used in diet, “sugar free” type drinks is know (anecdotally) to be eye problems including:
* Decreased vision -- including blindness in one or both eyes
* Blurring, "bright-flashes", tunnel vision, "black spots"
* Double vision
* Pain in one or both eyes
* Decreased tears
* Difficulty wearing contact lens
* Unexplained retinal detachment and bleeding
http://www.dorway.com/betty/eye.txt
Personally I know this to be true with me, I deduced this before research via the Internet backed me up. If I drink a 2L bottle of ‘diet’ drink then the following day my eyes will be very sore and I can’t wear lenses. Even smaller quantaties tend to adversely effect me.
Additional factors that cause dryness pain in my eyes are; “halogen lights” (I don’t understand this but maybe they dry the air?), certain types of paint, smoke and one of the ingredients in both allergy medication and sleeping pills. Anyhow I’m rambling, everyone is different and it helps to learn what effects you. If you eyes are especially sore one day try and figure out why.
- Eye Health
============
Additionally I tend to suffer from sty’s, blepharitis, blocked oil glands (called sebaceous I think), pinguecula, mucus strands and currently ‘odd’ clear lumps on my cornea.
Ref – http://www.apagrafix.com/patiented/PTE001/pterygium.HTM
Maintaining proper lid hygiene and applying hot compresses once of twice a day helps greatly. More than anything this tends to prevent the above mentioned problems and leaves my eyes feeling refreshed.
By lid hygiene I mean boiling water and then placing some in a glass with either backing soda or “Johnsons” baby shampoo. Then using cotton buds and gently cleaning your eyelid margins, especially the bases of the lashes.
http://www.nurseseyesite.nhs.uk/leaflets/bleph.asp
Hot compresses are great also, especially if you have sty’s or pinguecula. I use a flannel, soak it in hot water and then press it against my closed eye. Ideally you should do this for 5 minutes and re-wet the flannel if the water cools. It’s great, really helps.
-Increasing lens wear as tolerance decreases.
=============================================
I am finding no matter what I do my eyes are becoming more intolerant of lenses. The solution I have found is to only wear one at a time. This may sound scary to some/most of you but it works well. This first time I did this it confused me a little, now (after 5 years) my brain is so used to the changing (Sometimes I wear my LHS for 4 hours and then RHS for 4) that I get disorientated with both lenses in. It is legal to drive with one lens in and I haven’t had a single problem in respect to judging distances.
The other piece of advice I can offer is, “Don’t be afraid to do things without your lenses in.” I find it’s all a matter of adjusting your environment and letting your brain get used to the idea. I now read most books and work at my home computer without lenses, yes my nose literally touches the book and I feed along the lines and I have a huge computer monitor and a keyboard about 10cm’s from my face but I’ve managed to nearly complete an online masters (MSc) degree through the UoL (30 hours a week) mostly done without contact’s in. Surprisingly I can actually read faster than most and my computer productivity is 60-80% what it is with lenses in. (Still faster then most)
Sorry I’ve yapped on abit, hopefully my words help, I would also add try not to worry about the soreness. Rich coming from me as I tend to worry more than most, but then I find myself not able to sleep because I’m worrying if my sore eyes will recover enough for an important meeting the following day.
I yapped enough, I hope you find some of this useful. In summary.
- Learn about yourself. (What effects you?)
- Drink enough water
- Do perform hot compresses and proper (eye) lid hygiene.
- Make sure your lenses are properly cleaned, including regular protein removal.
- Replace them regularly
- Use alternating eyes. (Resting your eyes is good)
- “Don’t be afraid to do things without your lenses in.”
- Don’t worry
Regards,
Philip.
Reading your post on lenses and pain I can't help but sympathise. I'm 27 and have been wearing lenses for the best part of nearly 14 years. I wear RGP lenses and my eyes have become progressively more intolerant over the past four years.
I understand the depression and agoraphobia well, I have found my issues have limited my progress in my career and held me back from accepting promotion which would force me to travel and attend customer sites more often. I have sometimes also entertained very negative thoughts, especially through server bouts of corneal ulcers or iritus but that passes. I love my job and life!!
Can I address some of your points:
- Pain.
=======
Can you describe the pain? Sounds odd, but I tend to get lots of different pains, on different days for different reasons. Are your eyes excessively dry?
I find pain management is half the battle, over the last 6 months I have started taking pain relieve when needed and as sparingly as possible. My doctor recommended paracetamol based pain killers as they are better long-term than ibuprofen. Additionally try to isolate the cause of the pain.
- Pain - Dryness
To combat the dryness I use Hypromellose eye drops when needed. (£1.40 from boots) these contain a preservative so you can get more of a build-up on the RGP’s and I find I need to use protein removal tablets more frequently (Every 3 weeks) I also use Viscotears gel at nights. Oddly enough I find eating various foods or drinking has an effect on my dryness and level of redness/general soreness the following day.
Water – Drink lots it makes a big difference, but not too much as it has a negative effect.
Diet/Sugar Free drink/food – One of the greatest side-effects caused by the chemicals (aspartame) used in diet, “sugar free” type drinks is know (anecdotally) to be eye problems including:
* Decreased vision -- including blindness in one or both eyes
* Blurring, "bright-flashes", tunnel vision, "black spots"
* Double vision
* Pain in one or both eyes
* Decreased tears
* Difficulty wearing contact lens
* Unexplained retinal detachment and bleeding
http://www.dorway.com/betty/eye.txt
Personally I know this to be true with me, I deduced this before research via the Internet backed me up. If I drink a 2L bottle of ‘diet’ drink then the following day my eyes will be very sore and I can’t wear lenses. Even smaller quantaties tend to adversely effect me.
Additional factors that cause dryness pain in my eyes are; “halogen lights” (I don’t understand this but maybe they dry the air?), certain types of paint, smoke and one of the ingredients in both allergy medication and sleeping pills. Anyhow I’m rambling, everyone is different and it helps to learn what effects you. If you eyes are especially sore one day try and figure out why.
- Eye Health
============
Additionally I tend to suffer from sty’s, blepharitis, blocked oil glands (called sebaceous I think), pinguecula, mucus strands and currently ‘odd’ clear lumps on my cornea.
Ref – http://www.apagrafix.com/patiented/PTE001/pterygium.HTM
Maintaining proper lid hygiene and applying hot compresses once of twice a day helps greatly. More than anything this tends to prevent the above mentioned problems and leaves my eyes feeling refreshed.
By lid hygiene I mean boiling water and then placing some in a glass with either backing soda or “Johnsons” baby shampoo. Then using cotton buds and gently cleaning your eyelid margins, especially the bases of the lashes.
http://www.nurseseyesite.nhs.uk/leaflets/bleph.asp
Hot compresses are great also, especially if you have sty’s or pinguecula. I use a flannel, soak it in hot water and then press it against my closed eye. Ideally you should do this for 5 minutes and re-wet the flannel if the water cools. It’s great, really helps.
-Increasing lens wear as tolerance decreases.
=============================================
I am finding no matter what I do my eyes are becoming more intolerant of lenses. The solution I have found is to only wear one at a time. This may sound scary to some/most of you but it works well. This first time I did this it confused me a little, now (after 5 years) my brain is so used to the changing (Sometimes I wear my LHS for 4 hours and then RHS for 4) that I get disorientated with both lenses in. It is legal to drive with one lens in and I haven’t had a single problem in respect to judging distances.
The other piece of advice I can offer is, “Don’t be afraid to do things without your lenses in.” I find it’s all a matter of adjusting your environment and letting your brain get used to the idea. I now read most books and work at my home computer without lenses, yes my nose literally touches the book and I feed along the lines and I have a huge computer monitor and a keyboard about 10cm’s from my face but I’ve managed to nearly complete an online masters (MSc) degree through the UoL (30 hours a week) mostly done without contact’s in. Surprisingly I can actually read faster than most and my computer productivity is 60-80% what it is with lenses in. (Still faster then most)
Sorry I’ve yapped on abit, hopefully my words help, I would also add try not to worry about the soreness. Rich coming from me as I tend to worry more than most, but then I find myself not able to sleep because I’m worrying if my sore eyes will recover enough for an important meeting the following day.
I yapped enough, I hope you find some of this useful. In summary.
- Learn about yourself. (What effects you?)
- Drink enough water
- Do perform hot compresses and proper (eye) lid hygiene.
- Make sure your lenses are properly cleaned, including regular protein removal.
- Replace them regularly
- Use alternating eyes. (Resting your eyes is good)
- “Don’t be afraid to do things without your lenses in.”
- Don’t worry
Regards,
Philip.
-
Philip - (London)
Sue B - Hertfordshire wrote:
"Can anyone on here (with RGP lenses) please let me know what artificial tear solutions they use and where they are available from."
I use Hypromellose it's a generic artificial tear solution available in most pharmacies (Boots etc..) It only costs about £1 - £1.40 for a 10ml bottle, so resonable.
Philip.
"Can anyone on here (with RGP lenses) please let me know what artificial tear solutions they use and where they are available from."
I use Hypromellose it's a generic artificial tear solution available in most pharmacies (Boots etc..) It only costs about £1 - £1.40 for a 10ml bottle, so resonable.
Philip.
-
Andrew MacLean
Dear Sue
I used to use Carbomer Gel when I wore RGP lenses. These were cheaper bought over the counter (any pharmacy) than on prescription, so this may be the reason they were not put on your prescription.
It may be a good idea to check with somebody, doctor, opthalmologist or optician to make sure the artificial tears you choose are not
incompatible with other stuff that you put into our onto your eye.
All the best
Andrew
On 9 Jan 2004, at 23:20, QT - Sue B - Hertfordshire wrote:
>
< replied-to message removed by QT >
I used to use Carbomer Gel when I wore RGP lenses. These were cheaper bought over the counter (any pharmacy) than on prescription, so this may be the reason they were not put on your prescription.
It may be a good idea to check with somebody, doctor, opthalmologist or optician to make sure the artificial tears you choose are not
incompatible with other stuff that you put into our onto your eye.
All the best
Andrew
On 9 Jan 2004, at 23:20, QT - Sue B - Hertfordshire wrote:
>
< replied-to message removed by QT >
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Brian Taylor
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Brian Taylor
Jane
I think that scleral lenses are also known as haptic lenses which have been around since the early 80s.
Try this website for info http://www.sclerals.com
Brian
I think that scleral lenses are also known as haptic lenses which have been around since the early 80s.
Try this website for info http://www.sclerals.com
Brian
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Freddy
I use Visulube for my eye which has a large rgp post surgery. It is rather thick and viscous (?spelling) but this means it stays around for a while. I too used Hypromellose but found the effect was lost quite quickly. I was advised by my clf to use Visulube as it is fully compatible with cls, whereas he thought some other more widely available proprietory brands were less suitable.
Freddy
Freddy
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