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Piggybacking - general frustration

Posted: Tue 22 Mar 2011 7:46 pm
by Karmen
I've been struggling with RGP lenses for about 6 months (following being diagnosed with KC 4 years ago) and my optician at Moorfields suggested yesterday to try the piggybacking method. I managed to get both lens sets in this evening but it's barely been 2 hours and I have a headache. I feel like I'm blinking / straining my eyes a lot and trying to relax them but this almost feels the same as the RGPs without the soft ones underneath...

Is this normal? I'm just frustrated with not being able to see well and in spite of my vision being great with the RGPs, I cannot get used to the significant discomfort. I know most people seem to 'get past it' but any other tips or ideas would be great as I'm reaching the end of my tether!

Thanks

Karmen

Re: Piggybacking - general frustration

Posted: Tue 22 Mar 2011 8:00 pm
by Anne Klepacz
Hi Karmen and welcome to the forum,
I've never piggy backed, but I imagine you might need to build up the wearing time gradually. Hopefully there'll be some expert piggy backers along soon who might know better!
Anne

Re: Piggybacking - general frustration

Posted: Wed 23 Mar 2011 7:34 am
by Andrew MacLean
Karmen, welcome to the forum

I have never been able to cope with piggy backing, but I can see why optoimetrists suggest this mode of contact lens wear, and I do know that for many people it is the perfect solution.

Don't despair. If, like me, you turn out to be unable to cope with this combination, there are other lens materials and lens types that your optometrist can use.

Every good wish

Andrew

Re: Piggybacking - general frustration

Posted: Thu 24 Mar 2011 6:38 am
by Legy de feral
I tried piggy backing when I could no longer wear RGPs but it just didn't work for me. Like you Karmen, comfort wise, I might just have well worn my RGPs. I ended up trying scerals and was able to wear one. I loved it. Better vision and greater comfort. The other eye just had to go naked

Re: Piggybacking - general frustration

Posted: Thu 24 Mar 2011 1:59 pm
by melissa
hi Karmen,
i am one of those for whom piggy backing really has worked well. i struggled with RGPs, comfort, scratches and lenses popping out, until i started on piggyback and haven't looked back. however my eyes were already 'accustomed' to RGPs and the RGp had good fits, so the soft lens mostly helped by protecting the surface from scratches and stopping the lenses from popping out... this transformed my life and gave me confidence to go out and do things again...
i think each case is different.... but i think a good RGP fit and a decent tolerance will be required if the piggybacking is going to help.
don't despair- as Andrew says there are also other options.

Re: Piggybacking - general frustration

Posted: Sat 26 Mar 2011 9:12 pm
by dalbeath
Hi,
Like Melissa piggy backing has totally tranformed my life. I get 14 hours a day almost every day without any real problems. The RGP on their own were a nightmare and very painfull - also popped out a lot.

However, I do occasionally get the odd day that they don't settle. All I can suggest is you take the whole lot out, put some kind of drops in your eye to moisten it again. Then once the eye is happy rinse the soft one really well and put it back in, if possible leave it for about 20 mins to really settle. Then put the hard one back in and more drops.

I know the above is a pain but sometimes taking it all out and cleaning and adding drops really helps

My opt has tried a few different combinations of shapes of lenses and I have had a flatter lens that was great for my vision but like you said gave me a headache, was very painful and popped out a lot. Is the hard lens staying stable on the soft one or is it skidding off? If it is skidding off it may been the fit of the lens causing you discomfort and not the fact it's a piggy back lens.

Best of luck

Wendy