Keratoconus contact Lenses

[shoebp12]

Hi everyone i was diagnosed with Keratoconus around 9/10 months ago, ive been wearing glasses since , the vision has been great with the glasses,but i find it hard when im driving in the night and using the computer screen, it started getting blurry once on the screen for an hour or so and constant glare with driving. I recently went for a referral, i now have RPG hard Lenses. ive started with 1 hour. building upto 3/4 hours a day. First my eyes hurt once worn, Clarity or Sharpness of the eye is not very good. its clearer without glasses. Few questions are contact lenses worth it, When do you know they are right for you, when do you get use to them and do they actually improve your eyesight. Thanks

[GarethB]

Fitting us with lenses is more of an art than it is a science especially as most optoms only have a short time to see each patient and it is quite common for the prescription to be changed regularly to get the best comfort and vision. For most of us it is a compromise as you can have a really comfortable lens but see nothing at all. Conversly see really well but have a very uncomfortable lens.

Ultimatly once you find the best compromise for you it is well worth it for most of us. You know when you have the right one for you but as I said you might not get 6/6 vision. We can cope perfectly well with 6/9 and the driving standard is 6/12. My RGP lenses give 6/5 but I can only wear them five days a week for upto 11 hours. The Kerasoft 3 I have give me 6/9+3 (a drop of nearly 2 lines on the eye chart) but I can wear them for 16 hours per day, 7 days per week and I have been wearing them every day since 20th December 2008, nearly a 90% increase in wear time but I can cope with the slightly worse vision because of all the otehr benefits a differnt type of lens gives me.

They do improve your eye sight as without lenses I barely make 6/60 but getting used to lenses is an indivisual thing, some people are happy with them after a week, other take longer to adapt. For me it took about three months.

Hope this helps.

Gareth

[Andrew MacLean]

It may also be that while working at your computer your 'blink rate' falls and your eyes become increasingly dry.

Try to make a point of blinking; take a rest from your screen and above all keep yourself well hydrated. There are some artificial tears that are safe to use with contact lenses; I use Clinitas Soothe, it suits me. Others have found different solutions that suit them!

All the best

Andrew

[dazzabee]

I think the thing with contact lenses is to perservere. Having said that, like Gareth said, sometimes they need to be changed.

When I was first fitted with my RGp I couldnt only wear it for an hour or so before my eye started to sting, get itchy, dry etc. Then day by day, it was 30 or so minutes longer until I was wearing it for 9-10 hours a day no problem.

You may have seen on another post that I have just been fitted with another type of lens (due to other problems I might add nothing to do with the RGP) and I am going through the same thing as you at the moment. My tolerance is 3-4 hours on this new lens.

If the discomfort gets too much, the vision too impaired and the results are not what you would expect then go back to your clinic. The tear drops, as mentioned by Andrew, are very good. I use blink but there are quite a few on the market but do make sure you buy those that are suitable for use with hard contact lenses.

Good luck and I promise things will improve over time just don't give up!

[lcogrady]

Hi there

I am having the same issue with the RGP I have just had fitted. I can wear it for about 3-4 hours a day but all I think about is how uncomfortable it is for the first hour or so and as with you the clarity is not great. I wonder the same is it worth it? but as the sight in my newly grafted eye is pretty much no existant I am going to have to persist.

Any tricks to make these more bareable would be greatly appriciated or is it just a case of getting used to it? I am going through bucket loads of artifical tears!!!

Anyway, I def sympathise with you

Lucy

[GarethB]

When speaking with your optom you need to give detail. Having spoken to many optoms the issue they have is when they are told the lens hurts means very little. Is it uncomfortable on a specif part of theye, after a certain activity, as soon as the lens goes in or after a few hours and so on.

If things look fuzzy, is it in a particular orientation or certain light conditions. When you have an eye test say exactly what you see, you might be able to read a line but how clear is it, does it change when you blink. look around the room and see what things look like.

Keeping your self occupied can also take your mind off of the lenses. My RGP''s were bearable but as soon as I started talking to people about them I became conceous of them i my eye and they would become more uncomfortable.

As far as RGP's go i thought mine were really comfortabl but I have had to reconsider how I was scoring comfort out of ten once I got the soft K3 lenses. I am genuinly unable to feel them after having them in my eye for a few minutes or even when I talk about them.

Lucy - part of the discomfort may be reffered discomfort due to the graft and the fact one eye is doing all the work. I had that when I had my grafts many years ago and got it with my RGP's. If I had discomfort in one eye a few hours later I would feel it in the other. Take the lens out of the eye causing discomfort and both eyes would feel better.

[private104]

Hi.

My first lens was really uncomfortable; turned out I was using a wetting fluid that didn't suit my eye. Now I have two lenses; the original one in one eye and a new one in the other. I use Amo Total Care and my old trouble has gone. My optometrist told me that getting the right fluid could be as hard as getting the fit right.

Wouldn't it be better if we were more standard? Maybe not :/

[red-eye]

ive started with 1 hour. building upto 3/4 hours a day. First my eyes hurt once worn, Clarity or Sharpness of the eye is not very good. its clearer without glasses.

Hi, how long ago did you get fitted with the lenses?

If I can recall correctly, when I was fitted with an RGP lens, yes it was very uncomfortable but the vision good.

I only wear an RGP lens in my left eye and it's been great, fitting was quick, only the 1 type of lens was tried and wearing time gradually increased. I would be lost without it (literally), have been wearing the lens for 12+ hours a day, 7 days a week. Am on my second 1 with the first lasting me just over 2 years. I have however noticed the eye lid dropping a fraction, its only a couple of millimeters but noticable.

My right eye was a completely different story, so many lenses were tried, different sizes and shapes, some feel out while others caused pain, both issues due to the steepness of the cornea.

Good luck.