UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

After my rant about transport, a very nice volunteer lady dropped me at the hospital and and then spent 45 minutes looking for a parking space. The Hospital allows these people to claim back the parking so that was a bonus.

Usual promt service, but these lenses are huge compared to my tiny RGP's, they are about twice the diameter so not being used to the size I felt a prat when opening my eye lids far enough. Optom had problems too with my usual fear of things and people fiddling with my eyes. We had a laugh and a chat and he sneaked the lens in!

Vision was absolutly awful! The fit on the right eye is fine, but we have decided to up the power and we can get 6/6 so new lens orderd.

Left eye then lens fit appears to be a bit tight! Tried upping the power and the best we can get is 6/12 which is not good enough to race
Re orderd this with higher power first to see what results we get before we change the lens fit so we know what the critical factors are.

Shame really considering at the test fitting we got 6/6 in both eyes considering the severity of the KC in the right eye which makes the poor vision in the left so confusing.

Spent time with the nurse to practice putting them in and taking them out which went OK but took time because the nurse is very interested in the support group so at her request and the optoms I need to go armed with loads of KC promotional stuff for the notice board and the waiting room. Going to take extra so the consultants have coppies in their office.

Comfort is too early to say because the hospital air con is horrible and they do feel different to an RGP lens. I do notice them more than an RGP, but probably because after 2 years wearing RGP's I have got used to the way the feel.

Got the lenses so that I can get used to wearing them even though they do nothing for my vision! Still very much a work in progress but to be fair to the hospital, this type of lens is still very new to them. I am quite happy for them to use me to learn as they have helped me so much, it is the least I can do to help them if it means they can help other patients with KC and that may have problems with the harder lenses.

Regards

Gareth

Sorry to hear the vision wasn't that good with the left lens and hopefully the replacement will give you the vision necessary to race again.

Nothing is ever simple

Too true, but at least we are making progress in the right direction. We are not called patients for nothing

Considering how easy it was to fit me with RGP lenses, it is only fare I suffer the same lens fitting issues as everyone else

Gareth,

I am sorry it hasn't worked out - yet. Fingers crossed for you.

You say the diametre is twice the size, must be something like the size of a soft lens?

What about the thickness of the lens? Is it of RGP thickness? And does it get thinner towards the edge?

Good luck with wearing them in!

Gareth

i reckon that, all in all, this is pretty good news. One eye with 6/6 amd the other with 6/12 but a less comfortable fit.

There is every prospect that with the power increased and the fit adjusted you'll be 6/6 in both eyes. I know it's a bore to have to go through further fittings etc, but in the end you may just be back racing.

I had the advantage when I got to Kerasoft of having worn a scleral in my other eye, so I was well used to looking like a prat while I put the lens in and took it out.

All the best.

Andrew

This is the first soft lens in my life so I have no idea what size they are normally.

As far as thickness goes I will have to look with my RGP's in to even see the things.

I find however disappointing a visit is you nee to build on the positive howver small it might be. Plus I know I pushing the capability of the Kerasoft lens to get the vision I need to race.

Gareth,

Sorry to read that the vision isn't what you will need. It does take time though and having 6/6 in one eye which is the worst one is dam good!!

Keep up with it! You are doing really well and it is good for optoms to practice with us.

Hehe it is the price to pay if you adapted to RGPs well. I did the same thing and didn't have any problems until it came to sclerals! I am fine though with practitioners putting lenses in and out so it it ok.

Take care, love Sweet X x X

Now wearing the soft lenses straight after wearing the RGP's. I know this wil give slightly distorted vision because my eyes have had 10 hours of RGP flattening the cornea and it takes time for it to bounce back properly. However I have the optoms permission to do this to help get used to the feel of wearing a soft lens.

Left eye is really comfortable, the right eye is not uncomfortable but I can feel the lens. I think this is because of where the RGP lens sits. Because my KC in the right is is to one side so the cone points to my nose, then so the lens sits very inboard pointing to my nose. The outer edge of that lens is on the edge of my puil fully dilated. The Kerasoft cover a couple of mm outside the iris so the outside edge of that eye has never had a lens sitting on it for 20 years so i think it is just half an eye that needs to acclimatise!

I notice everything bright which i do not get without lenses because the way the light is scatterd, it just does not make it to my retina. My RGP's are tinted so things at home rarely appear very bright. With these lenses might be using the sunglasses a bit more than usual.

Ivory; not sure if the Kerasoft is thinner of thicker towards the edge, being clear it is hard to tell. It is easy on my RGP's to see where the lens is thinner because of the tint as the deptyh of colour changes slightly with lens thickness when viewed from the side.

They appear to be thicker than my RGP lenses but I think this is to help with the lens holding its shape so it does not 'drape' over the eye so much and to help with the lens weighting so it sits correctly on my eye.

Having gone 12 months now without wearing an RGPlens in my right eye only it is very odd being able to see more out of the right than the left. The level of vision in the right although not enough to drive on the public roads, does give me enough vision to function normally and see the paint defects in the decorating I did last week!

With the Kerasoft in the left, it makes my vision more like my right eye unaided. Uncorrected vision in the right eye leaves me legally blind!

At the moment vision in my right eye with a Kerasoft is slightly better than the left eye uncorrected.

would be good if I can keep these lenses and give to people who are used to wearing lenses so that they get an idea of what I see with KC!

Was hoping to have the weekend off work so I could have a day for my eyes to settle without the RGP's to get a better idea of how the Kerasofts are. Oh well, can not have everything and the OT pays for my next holiday.

Going to Ireland, any ideas of which is the best area to visit?

So I guess they are thicker but softer, fair enough trade off I guess. Hopefully I will see for myself later this month whan I ask my new opitician if I qualify to trial a pair.

I believe there are many nice parts to Ireland, however having just moved here I can't recommend anything outside Dublin yet! People keep telling me to get over to the west (Galway) so I hope to do that soon. But if you haven't been here before, i would have thought Dublin was a must.

Good luck with the decorating!

The Kerasoft lenses are similar in size to "normal" soft lenses or sometimes slightly bigger in diameter. If you are only used to RGP's then ANY soft lens looks huge at first!

The vision problem is, as you quite rightly say Gareth, partly due to the fact you are swapping straight from RGP's and for this reason can often take a while to settle as your cornea recovers from the moulding from an RGP.

Generally, it all sounds quite good! I did check about the material as well, and this lens is definitely not commerically available in silicon hydrogel.