Postby rosemary johnson » Tue 18 Apr 2006 9:40 pm
OK, as a comment of mine sparked this off, here's the gen:
The ida of piggybacking for my right eye came up about 18 months ago.
No, rephrase that; idea first came up more like 21 months ago, at which point I was less than keen on idea, but thought it worth trying the new scleral, as i could sort-of read with it, despite lots of ghosting.
So I paid for, had ordered, got and wore the new scleral. Was getting used to the ghosty vision and could read in it with concentration and a good light, without having to screw my eyes up.
To do this we'd got a large contact zone - larger than should be comfortable/practical with an rgp material because of the way the surface looks "rough" at the microscope-scale level - in fact, more like th etype of contact zone that i'd had with the PMMA sclerals (with the air holes in) previously.
SO far so good - and for the first time in ages I had a right eye working to go out riding on the roads - I didn't feel it was particularly safe to be out on the roads on a horse with the eye nearest the cars comin gup behind us and maybe not overtaking sensibly not working.
Only trouble: I was getting max 5 hours at a time tolerance, and then needed at least one day off.
SOlution: use a soft lens underneath it to act as a cushion between cornea surface and rough surface of RGP lens.
That was why Ken first suggested piggybacking.
SO after a few months experience of the new scleral, I decided to give the piggybacking a go. i paid a standard lens charge on 1st NOvember 2004 and the soft lenses were ordered.
Should explain these are daily disposable soft lenses - I don't know why I was steered to those and Sweet to monthly and ...... but have to say the thought of the fag of cleaning etc soft lenses was the main offputting feature of piggybacking.
Rule, as I was given it at the time was one lens charge for 4 months supply. 90 daily disposable lenses. Which should las tme about 6 months assuming I wore the sclerals roughly 50/50 right eye/left eye.
I went off with a handful to keep me going.....
..... and I finally got hold of the ones I'd paid for on 1st November 2004 in JUNE 2005!!! - and that only after several abortive trips to Moorfields when I'd been given to expect I could collect them only to arrive and no-one knew anything about it, sundry phone calls at huge phone bill expense, and after a long long time ont he phone asking what on earth gives and finally getting to a senior supplies person when MEH rang to concel my forthcoming appointment! - it transpired amongst all this that not only had at least two orders got lost, but also my notes, which were now in a right mess.
Said semior supplies person managed to pull the right strings, and get me not only the right lenses eventually but a prescription for the fluids to use with them, and I rolled up, met him and collected them all.
At my next appointment - the one that had been concelled and rearranged later - I commented on this with suitable feeling.... and when I remarked it was back in NOvember 2004 I'd paid for the things, I was asked "Why did you do that? You shouldn't have had to" - apparently on the grounds that the d/d soft lenses were "accessories" to the use of the scleral so should have been free.
Needless to say I picked this up with great interest!! - and said can I have a refund please?! - at which suddenly we weren't so sure of this any more after all, and would go and look into it, see what the situation was and what could be done...
At my next appointment - by when the piggy backing was going OK, very comfortable, the vision deteriorates so I can't read inthem really any more long before they are uncomfortable enough to need to take them out, getting them in sometimes a problem but getting the hang of it...... anyway, the subject of a new supply of the soft lenses came up, and I commented again on the time it had taken to get the previous lot, and that I'd been promised that the issue of whether I'd paid and shouldn't have done, and whether I was due a refund, was to be looked into.
And go thte impression this was all "news" and not anything they'd ever heard of, let alone had done anything about...
... with result that a new batch of lenses couln't be ordered because no-one knew whether I had to pay for them or not.
Stalemate, in other words.
I was told that *I* should be writing to someonein MEH to suggest that MEH ought to get its policy in such matters worked out.
I have to say I think it is a pretty state of a affiars when I, a patient, am expected to sort out the internal procedures of a hospital before I can get what I need to see with!!!!!
In terms of cost: I have since then established that the opticians franchise in our local ASDA sell daily disposable soft lens at rates that are either a bit, or a lot, cheaper than the NHS lens charge - the bit/lot depending on brand (they don'thave the brand I'm currently using on display, but do have a brand that I had a few of as "try these to get you going and see how you get on". Unfortunately, ASDA won't sell me those without a prescription from MEH - or from *someone*, but the optician who does apparently test and prescribe specs and lenses for "ordinary" people doesn't feel like taking on examining and specifying himself for piggybacking under sclerals for KC.
So at the moment I'm stymied. I've been hoarding the soft lenses to eke them out as long as I can, basically saving them for riding if I'm going out on the road or for "emergencies" if the left eye is getting too sore and badly needs more time off. But otherwise I'm wearing the left lens for most of the time, and nothing when that's too sore.
Ironically, I'd probably be wearing the right eye lenses for maybe two-thirds of the time given a good supply of the soft lenses, because the piggybacking combination is good for comfort.
So - that's daily disposables, and that's my saga.
What will happen next, I wait to see! - or, as the case may be, not.
How this relates to monthly soft lenses, I don't know - other than to think if it is decided we have to pay for piggy backing soft lenses they'd have the same rule - a lens charge for three months' supply. now, how this works for you if you have a monthly you can only wear for a month and appointments 6 monthly, I don't know! - 3 months dailys and alternate eye use works out roughly OK with 6 monthly appointments.... until they cancel them, of course!
prices of monthly soft lenses, I don't know. But then, I'd guess that daily disposables prices vary depending where you go and whether you have a pile-em-high-n-sell-em-cheap operator like walmart in town, ha!
Rosemary
(Sorry to go on; cal you tell I'm thoroughly pissed off with this!)
)
