UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

I currently have intacs that have been implanted in both my eyes. One of these have been implanted by Centre for sight and the other has been implanted by another clinc. The one that has been implanted by the other clinic (2 years ago) is always sore and irritates me, I now want this to be retreated by Centre for sight. This means I am going to require one intac to be removed and left to heal for 3 months. To get me by for the next 3 months I have been considering getting Rose K lenses. I've heard these are comfortable and easy to fit.
Does anyone know if this is the case? If so what could someone recommend an opticians in the Hertfordshire area. Could you also let me know the cost of these lenses?

Thanks

Dplees,

Rose K are comfortable for me, but like with all things KC what works for one can be really painful for another. So all you can do is give it a go.

Thing is, while your cornea heals once the intact is removed and your eye might be sensitive to a lens on it and you could well have varying vision so is it worth getting a lens for such a short time?

The brain is quite adaptable so if you get OK vision with the remaining eye, I would go with just monocular vision.

It is very easy to get used to.

Hi Dplees
Can't help with your "technical" query I'm afraid, but there are some Hertfordshire KC friendly optoms listed on this site (go to the home page and there is a link to KC friendly optoms on the RH side)

Haven't tried any of them personally (yet - I'm a Hertfordshire girl too!) but I think you will find one of them (at least ) does post on this site ocasionally with some really helpful advice!

i've been wearing rose k for a number of years now and find them the best out of all the lenses that were tried on me.

How difficult is it to fit Rose K lenses?
I have read that its possible to get off the shelf disposible lenses - is this true.
I just need to get by for 3 months while I recover - this is also going to be a stressful time as i have just got a new job at an investment bank

Dplees
You might - depending on how bad your KC - is find that you can get by with a thick soft lens - have a look at the Ultravision website. They do keratoconic soft lenses. My optician got me a lens from them originally which I used for a while to tied me over - it just about brought me up to legal driving standards.

http://www.ultravision.co.uk

Don't know where you are in Herts - but my optician is in East Herts - pm me if you want contact details but he isn't a KC specialist - just old fashioned and knows what he's doing!

Fitting RoseK is relatively straight forward if the optom has a topography of your eye. The optom will then select from a fitting kit what appears to be best and then check the fit and perhaps try a slightly different lens.

Kerasoft are good, the only problem I had was oxygen transfer to the corne which upset my grafts so you should bear this in mind if using them on an eye an intact has beenr emoved and the eye is healing.

Unfortunatly to the best of my knowledge there is no disposable lenses for us.

I was fitted for my Rose K lenses last week and collected them today, its too early to comment really but I had a really good 3 hours wear time today and had to force myself to remove them! Mine were ordered through the hospital so cost me £50.50 each

Like Gareth says...

Everybody is different and more so if you are keratoconic!

No-one can say at all that a Rose K is ok for you. They may work, they may be totally wrong. And since a really good fit can take a few months, Gareth is totally on the ball to say do you really want to do this for 3 months?

Disposables.. they may work for very early KC... but if they really did a good job, there would not be a need for this forum...

I am not being deliberately negative here... just that if you are waiting between intacs, there is no easy solution. For all anyone knows, you may get on with a disposable - your cornea may well hold its shape for a while.. but no-one here can advise you without seeing your eye.

There are optoms on the KC list here for Hertfordshire. You could visit one for an opinion - they are all familiar with KC fittings and can give you better advice than anyone here as they will be able to test your eye.

To be honest,. you do not yet know what your vision will be like after the intacts are removed. Take this one step at a time and do not ruch into anything!

Let us know how you get on!

Lynn

I had a Rose K lens. In fact, over the years I think I had two; one first for one eye and later on another for my other eye.

While I could wear them they were pretty comfortable

Like Lynne says each of us is different and indivuduality is not necessarily a good thing when it comes to KC. I guess optometrists would find life easier if we came with standard sized cones!

Andrew