UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

Hi, I was diagnosed with KC in April, I paid for RGP's privately and have asked to be referred for future treatment through the nhs. I have an appointment with a consultant in Portsmouth on 1/6/12. Does any know if I should wear my contact lenses to the appointment, or if I should stop wearing them a few days before hand? Does anyone else go to the QA in cosham? Thank you.

Hi Bijal and welcome to the forum,
I'd say go wearing your lenses. I'm sure you'll be asked to remove them at some point during the examination, but wearing them will give the hospital the opportunity of assessing how well your rgps correct your KC. I'm pretty sure Portsmouth has its own contact lens department, so you could choose to get your lenses at NHS rates there in the future.
All the best
Anne

Thank you Anne

I'd say, don't wear them for 24hrs before your appointment.

Let's say they need to do a cornea scan. Lenses can cause a temporary thickening of the cornea over wear time. This could distort the the KC damage visible to the scan, and give false results.

24 hours isn't enough for the cornea to settle back to its 'natural'KC shape so leaving them out for 24 hours isn't going to make much of a difference.

If a lens is causing a temporary thickening of the cornea I would suggest the oxygen transfer you have is poor leading to oedema (water logging of the cornea) which results in other problems.

No lens as Anne says and you will be asked to remove the lens anyway. Going with no lens will mean sitting around for extra time as even RGP's take time to settle properly on to the cornea to judge how well they really fit.

The best thing to do really is call the hospital ands ee what they want you to do, for most of us the letter from the hospital with our appointment time on tells you to wear lenses for at least a couple of hours and arrive wearing them.

My hospital is the total opposite.

They go mad if I wear my lenses when I arrive.

Thank you Munster and Gareth

I guess the answer here is 'phone the clinic and ask'.

Thank you Andrew, the clinic said to wear them to the appointment