UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

hi,

i've was diagnosed with Keratoconus about a year ago. But i've probably had it much longer i reckon. Just been ignoring my vision issues unfortunately,

I've had a couple of appointments at Moorfields and decided to give the RGP contacts a go as my vision did seem much better with the contacts even though there was discomfort, which i'm hoping i will overcome.

Just wondering how long the lenses take to come through, they were ordered in September. Will Moorfields call me as i haven't had any further appointment letters come through. Also if anyone has any tips for first time users.

Thanks.

Hi and welcome to the forum,
Lenses don't usually take more than 3 weeks to arrive, so if it's been longer than that, I'd give the contact lens order department a ring to check what's happening. I had to do that with my last lens, when for some reason the order turned out to be stuck at the manufacturers. And you should be getting a follow up appointment at the clinic to check that you're doing OK with the lenses and that no adjustments are needed. So check that out too.
Vision is usually very much better with rgps, so that should make up for initial discomfort. You were probably told you need to build up wearing time gradually over a couple of weeks, starting with an hour on the first day and then gradually increasing it. And don't worry too much if you have the occasional day when you seem to be going backwards - we all have the occasional 'bad lens day'!
Good luck.

Just a thought.

As you've not had contact lenses before have you been taught to handle your lenses? Although inserting and removing lenses is not difficult I would have thought that they would want to check that you can insert and remove them easily before letting you take them home. If you weren't charged for postage they would be expecting you to collect them.

Lia

hi thanks for your replies.

I gave the hospital a call and also happen to get my appointment through for next month. So i'm guessing they will check that the lenses are ok and also show me how to insert/remove hopefully.

Will be back here i'm sure to get some tips.

Lenses have varied greatly for how long they've taken to come in for me... quite often 6-8 weeks, but at the moment more like 2-4 weeks luckily.

Even after weeks of getting RGP's out I could never get the hang of it. Training is definitely required in my opinion.

I think that the main tip you need is, the one Anne mentioned, of building up wear time slowly. Do not be tempted to leave your lenses in for longer than you have been advised even if they feel comfortable.

The next tip is to always insert / remove lenses in the same order to reduce the probability of mixing them up. Because, bizarrely even though the prescriptions of the lenses are quite different one can sometimes see well with the lenses in the wrong eyes. We've all had the lenses in wrong eyes occasionally so it is important to know how to tell which is which. Sometimes lenses have different coloured handling tints, or are marked with L and R, or have dots on them.

Lia

hi, the RGP (hard) lens will be tinted/coloured coded bLue for Left eye gRey for Right eye.
Though not sure you have to specify lens to be tinted at time of order??
thanks and regards
Jas

Hi Jas,

Blue for left and grey for right is one way of working out which is which, but there are other ways. When I had lenses of different colours someone remarked that my eyes were different colours so I prefer to have markings on the lenses.

I used to have R engraved on the right and L on the left. With my original hard lenses it was quite easy to see the engravings but it is not so easy with RGPs. My current lenses have a single dot on the right lens and two dots on the left.

Lia

Hi,

I finally got my lenses through about a week ago. Building up wear time at the moment. Struggle fitting the left lens a little but that should get better over time I guess.

My vision is clearly better with lenses but i've noticed that I'm seeing some slight double vision on the left eye while wearing the lens, I notice this especially when reading text. Didn't seem to pick up on this when trying them at moorfields. Has anyone noticed anything similar?

Also i feel a slight head rush when I initially wear the lens, is this normal?

Will continue with the lens and see how things go. I have a follow up appoinment in June.

Sometimes a lens that seems fine in clinic isn't so perfect once you start wearing it. If the double vision persists once you've built up the wearing time, you could try getting an earlier appt to see if the lens needs tweaking slightly.
Seeing the world clearly is probably enough to give most people a head rush!
All the best