UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

Hello,

After 6 years of KC I've just got my first RGP (after years of hybrid lenses). After two days of wearing I'm finding them rather irritating. I told my wife it feels like a lump of plastic is stuck in my eye, her reply was 'well it is!'

Please can you lovely people reassure me that the discomfort will die down soonish and it's all worth it! Also, I'm finding it awkward to get them out without dropping it on the floor and having to scamper around to find it. What's the best way to remove it, as my local optomotrist showed me how to remove using both my hands, so I have no way of catching it?

I just need a bit of reasurance.

Alex

http://barndoorsandbanjos.org/

Hi Alex,

It can take awhile to get adjusted to them. I assume that you're still building up the wear times?

On getting them out, RGPs can be a pain to get out. Especially when they are for KC. The way I used to do mine was to use one hand and attempt to pull my eyelid to pinch at the lens then blink to drop it out.

See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4OfpY-bkKM it looks hard and it is a bit to learn but once you have it works very well.

Only other thing about RGPs is you need to be seriously anal about cleaning them. There was a thread with some good tips in it recently somewhere too. Edit found it - http://www.keratoconus-group.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7347

Hi Alex - Andy is spot on with what he says. When I used to wear RGP's I too struggled with getting them in and out. It all seems so unnatural putting something like that in your eye & than trying to get it out later on. Having sausages for fingers does not help at all - I imagine it's like a surgeon trying to do their thing with gardening gloves on! I also think that getting RGP's out when your eye is getting sore & tired somehow reduced me to being a gibbering, panicking wreck with a greater capacity for temper outbursts that would put the average teenager to shame. My consultant gave me a great little tool- a bit like a little sink plunger so that when I was struggling to get the little blighters out I could place it on the lens and gently ease it out - I also rarely dropped the lens which was a real bonus!

Building up your tolerance to RGP's can be hard work but stick with it - in time you will adjust.
Best wishes
Jez

This is what I do

1. Wash hands
2. Close sink plug
3. Place a clean dry towel in sink ( makes it easier to see lens if dropped and prevents chipped lens from being dropped.)
4. Face head downwards into sink, place a small mirror there if neccesary, but soon you should be able to apply/remove lens by just looking at it with your eye.
5. Remove lens by 2 finger/blink method or place into eye.

I find this works best for me, as standing and facing the mirror i was finding lenses would ping off and get lost!! this way the furthest it can go is on the sink, where i can easily see and retrieve it

Within 4 weeks they will be much more comfortable! i hated mine at first but love them now, prefer them to soft lenses any day

Jake

Thanks Andy, Jez and Jake for your excellent advice.

That YouTube video is excellent, apart from her disturbingly smiley face! She certainly makes my concern/frustration seem rather silly!!

Like you Jez, I also have rather sausage-like fingers, so it makes the whole process even more fiddly. Luckily I have noticed less discomfort towards the end of today's wearing time (I am slowly building it up). I have read about the plunger, and while I wouldn't want to rely entirely on one, it could be useful. Does anyone know where I can get one?

Jake, I'll give your method a go tomorrow, doing it with both hands as I was shown is just a bit silly as there is nothing to stop it falling, but a soft towel will help catch it and protect it if I do drop it!

Thanks again for your help and advice.

Alex

http://barndoorsandbanjos.org/

Most high street opticians do the plungers and although I haven't purchased one for many years, they were less than £1.

Very handy if your hands are dirty and there is a need to get lenses out in a hurry!

Thanks Gareth. I'll check with my local opticians and see if they've got any.

Ok, more advice needed...

Today at work I gentled rubbed my eye lid as it was a bit sore and the RGP suddenly popped behind my eye, and out of sight (no pun intended) and it took about 10 minutes until it suddenly, and painfully popped back around so I could reposition it.

Is this a common event, or was it just rather unlucky?

Alex

I don't think it normally goes "behind" have had it go up almost above the eye though(in the eyelid still, feels like it's gone sometimes though). Is quite scary. Main thing is not to panic. What I do is close my eye, look down and try to see if I can "scrape*" it back down.

It's not that common but does happen.

*More sort of feel around gently.

Uncommon event, but as you get used to wearing lenses you learn to stop rubbing your eye as you used to but rub it in a slightly different way so the lens stays in place.

To be honest as our corneas are damaged, eye rubbing has been postulated but by no means proven conclusivly to agravate KC so we are often advised to avoid rubbing our eye with or without lenses in but rather find out why our eyes are irritating making us want to rub them.

The movement of the RGP lens which is neaded to help tear flow and oxygenate the cornea can cause the tear film to break up so result in dry eyes which you may never of had before. So you may find as you get used to the lenses that you need to use artificial tears. I got through loads with my RGP lenses putting drops in throughout the day just so my eyes wouldn't itch.