Those kind souls who have been following my RGP saga with interest (or boredom!) may be interested to hear the outcome of my visit to Moorfields Contact lens clinic today.
Well I turned up without my lenses in and did I get a ticking off! But I did explain there was a reason for that - that they were so b***y painful and I couldn't face the thought of travelling on public transport and then a 20 min walk up a windy City Road with my eyes and nose streaming not to mention being in agony.
After a mountain of questions including "are you sure you are persevering enough" and "are you cleaning them properly" I think i managed to convince her that I simply was NOT getting on with them. She talked about trying a different fit for another month and then coming back. I'm afraid I said no to that and asked about other options as I have to find a way of getting back to work. When there was a suggestion that there weren't any I'm afraid I dug my heels in and asked about Kerasoft, Softperm etc and piggy-backing. It turns out that MEH don't do the soft lens options - she implied that the reason I was at Moorfields was because those options had been exhausted by local opticians.....!!! (Help - we do need to educate some of these optoms at the hospitals don't we?)
Anyway, I managed to persuade them to try piggy backing for me - and I am now still wearing my "piggy-back" set up after 5 hours, including a long walk back to the station, and I can see pretty well, not perfect admittedly but better, and it doesn't hurt!!
So, I am cautiously optimistic
that we have at last found a solution for me which gives the right balance between comfort and vision, and hopefully will facilitate my return to work. But it was a hard struggle - Moorfields did not seem overly enthusiastic and at the end of the day I guess it's down to money. RGP's are the cheapest option. (Hope I'm not straying into political incorrectness here!)
So, the list of "KC Friendly optoms" will surely grow in importance for people - if what I was told is correct that soft lenses (eg kerasoft, softperm) are not available on the NHS. I'm going to get mine (hopefully) to let me try Kerasoft in my right eye, which, to date, Moorfields have not yet treated, as they seem so keen to get my left eye sorted first.
Thanks for everyone's help and support so far - hopefully I will now have some respite from my struggle!
