Can't wear my contact lenses

[Ann Malby]

Two weeks ago I had pain in my left eye (the one which has the worse KC), so had an emergency appointment with my optician. I have a damaged cornea - possbily caused by something getting behind the lens, possibly might need a new lens fitted. But basically I have had to leave my contact lenses out until yesterday.

I have ended up taking 3 days off work, because being at work with my glasses on was causing me sever headaches.

I went back to the opticians yesterday, and apparently it's not totally healed, but he said that I could wear my lenses, but not full time, just to get to and from work, and when I am at work, but to take them out when I get home. However, putting my lens in today I can feel it on my left eye, and think I may have to continue to leave it out.

I am new here - although I have been diagnosed with KC for several years, I have never had any issue with it, since contact lenses successfully deals with it. However, the prosect of another 2 weeks with no lenses in is seriously getting me down. I also would like some advice on what to tell people at work. From looking at some of the posts on here, should I be registering at work as disabled? Would this make them understand me a bit better?

[Sweet]

Hello there! Nice to see someone else from Wales!!

i tihnk it is a lot easier to inform your employer about KC as it helps if you need some time off work. If you fill in your details as a member here you can get loads of information and a copy of a leaflet to give to your employer, this is very handy in explaining everything! Just get in touch with Anne and she will send it to you!

Most of us manage very well with lenses but sadly there are days when we just can't put them in for whatever reason and our eyes are sore. it is good to have at least one day a week without a lens i think especially if you wear them for long hours, just to give your eyes a break. Are you using any drops at all? I find systane eyedrops really good in helping with dryness and sore eye days.

I really hope that you aren't off work for long, but take it easy, Your eyes will protest if they don't want a piece of plastic in them! Hoping you feel better soon ... Sweet X x X

[GarethB]

Hi Anne,

Welcome to the forum.

Many of us who have KC would appear to have more sensitive corneas than most. So although an opticean may feel you can wear a lens again despite the corne not being quite healed, many of us find we have to leave a lens out until the damage has completly healed.

I find comfort eye drops useful, however if you are still on any medication for the current corneal problem please seek proffessional advice before using extra medication.

Hope it all clears up soon.

Regards

Gareth

[Ann Malby]

Well, had to be another day off work. I am going to try and see the optician again tomorrow.

I didn't have any medication for my eye - this did happen to me once about 6 years ago, and I had eye drops and some cream, and it cleared up in about 5 days, but I live in a different city now, different optician (I was seen at a hospital in previous place), and he said it was unnecessary. He is off on holiday next week - I hope I don't have to leave my lenses out for another 2 weeks, I don't think I could stand it.

I worl in IT - pretty much staring at a screen all day - any tips on how I can actually do any work? The few days I went in last week I found I could do very little, and just ended up with headaches.

[GarethB]

John is the expert here as he works all day in It so will have loads to say about screen resoltion.

I have a 19 inch flat screen monitor with the brightness and contrast very low. I have also changed the colours on the monitor (independant of windows) so everything is bias towards blue.

Next to my desk is a time permanently set to thirty minutes and evry 30 mins I stop working on the pc to have a five minute break. The HSE VDU guidlines recomends a break from looking at the screen to be taken at regular intervals. Regular short breaks is better than a few intermittant long breaks.

My work station has changed so I am further from the aircon ducts too. I have also a found I need lubricating eye drops such as Sytsane to help 'lock' the moisture into my cornea.

This is because when you look at a computer screen or TV for a long period your blink rate goes down so tears are not flushing the eye as they should.

Take a look at the employers leaflet available for download for some more info.

[John Smith]

Hello Ann,

The best way I've found to spend long periods looking at a screen is basically
* If you have a CRT (TV-style) monitor: Set the monitor resolution as high as possible that you can go with a nice fast refresh rate (say 85Hz).
* If you have a flat-screen monitor, you should make sure that the resolution and refresh rate matches the "native" resolution of the panel. You'll need to check the manual or the manufacturer's web site to check this out.
* Now these adjustments are done, if the text size is too small, increase it. On Windows XP this is under Display Properties/Settings/Advanced/DPI. The larger the DPI setting, the larger and smoother most text will appear.
* Finally, you can then go and adjust the fonts for window titles etc. so they are legible.

Once you've done all this, you'll have optimised your display for smooth flicker-free characters, which are generally much easier to read and cause less eye strain.

You may find that changing colours can help a surprising amount too. I quite like toning down the brightness of the whites, but keeping a fairly high contrast between foreground and background colours works best, but that's a personal thing.

All the best, hope you get your problems sorted out soon.