Soft contact lenses in KC

[charlie1431]

I have been told I have mild KC in both eyes, my right eye is slightly worse. I am using glasses to correct my vision but I am getting a bit fed up with them.
Please can you tell me if soft contact lenses are suitable in people with mild KC. How uncomforable are hard contact lenses?

I am seeing my hospital optician in October and she has never offered any other treatment options to me, just an explanation of KC. So, I am looking to gain some background knowledge so i can ask her some questions when I visit her.
I am considering been referred to another hospital.

Thanks in advance
Charlotte

[Anne Klepacz]

Hello Charlotte and welcome to the forum.
Ordinary soft lenses don't help, but there are now special soft lenses for KC such as Kerasoft3. If you e-mail your postal address to anne@keratoconus-group.org.uk I can send you the DVD of our 2007 conference, which included a talk on all the various contact lens options for keratoconus (and there's new ones being developed all the time). Good luck!
Anne

[Andrew MacLean]

Hi Charlotte

My rgp lens is not at all uncomfortable. I didn't do well with soft lenses, but find rgp's very good. That said, my all time favourite lens was a scleral

All the best

Andrew

[GarethB]

The comfort of lenses hard or soft are dependent on what lenses you optometrists provides, your KC and how sensitive your eyes are.

What works for one person can be a complete disaster for another so it is very much a case of try them and see.

[Sweet]

Charlotte,

Welcome to the forum!!

It is very much a case of trying all lenses until you find one which works for you! I have had a RGP lens for over 16 years and am only now trying the new kerasoft lenses. I didn't do very well at all with sclerals but others here think they are fantastic!

The DVD that Anne is sending you is really good, I hope you get a lot of info from that. Read loads of posts here as everyone is very helpful and supportive.

Wishing you all the best and let us know how you get on!! Loads of love Claire X x X

[Lynn White]

Hi Charlotte!

Soft lenses are possible for all levels of keratoconus and there are several on the market. They are more comfortable than RGPs when you first indert them - RGPs can become comfortable but it takes more adaptation time. There is no reason really, not to start off on soft lenses initially.

If your keratoconus advances, then other lenses may become more suitable - as Andrew says, sclerals are usually comfortable and very good for more advanced forms.. however, they are not really the first port of call for fitting KC!

If you want more info on soft lenses go to the website

Lynn

[Andrew MacLean]

Hello Charlotte

At the recent KC conference there was a bit of a debate between two wings of the optometry profession. One side (let us call this the 'traditional wing') held that there is really no point fitting soft lenses to people with keratoconus. The other side (looking for a name here, so let's call them the 'radical wing') held that the new developments in soft lenses made a positive outcome not only possible but probable.

Lynn's experience, and the experience of others who post here seems to bear out the 'radical' approach. That is not to say that soft lenses will be suitable for everybody with KC, but for those who suit them the seem to be just about perfect!

Andrew

[GarethB]

Andrew often pojnts out that KC is a bespoke condition and as such there is no single lens type that suits all KC patients. Hence even in the RGP lens camp there are dozens of lens types to choose from, the RGO materials are slightly different as is the design of the lens to correct the abnormalities of our corneas.

I was told by my hospital that soft lenses would not work, not even the new silicone hydrogel lenses yet they have seen me twice now and acknowledge the perfomce of my soft lenses exceeds the RGP lens performance they fitted me with. This is why I tell people to push to try a different lens type if they are having problems as you will only know if it works for you if you try it.

There are a few studies that have emerged questioning the use of RGP lenses for KC as RGP lenses can cause corneal scaring even on a cornea that is in the early stages of KC. By the same token there are studies suggesting infection rates are higherin patient groups using soft lenses.

Therefore it is very much a case of looking into the pros and cons of each lens type and your own individual circumstances so that we can work with the eye care proffessionals that look after us to provide the best management system for our eyes. At the end of the day, for most of us it is a compromise.

[charlie1431]

Thank you all very much for your replies, you've been a great help.

I will have a word with the hospital when I see them and will ask them about the various lenses that they offer. I would like to try the new Kerasoft lenses but like you say it depends whats available and what suits me.

Thanks again, Charlotte