Numbness & pins and needles with lens wear

[BurnTheAction]

Just back from Moorfields, they couldnt see anything wrong with my eyes outside of the usual scarring and have booked me in for 6 months time

However something is definitely up, my eye and area around my eye and upper jaw get a numb, pins and needles feeling when i wear a lens that makes it impossible to concentrate at work. This feeling turns up in my forearm too.

I end up taking ibuprofen most days which seems to numb it. I also find have a few glasses of wine in the evening dulls it

Anyone had something similar? If they cant see any issue with my eyes causing it am i just going mad?

[Lia Williams]

No you are not going mad!

How long have you had the problem? Is it only with the latest lenses or have you had the problem before?

I have a lens for my right eye that gives the eye very good vision but after a few weeks' wear it becomes annoying and the eye begins to ache and there is feeling of numbness from the roof of my mouth through to my forehead. A day or two later the lens becomes impossible to wear. The hospital can't see why the lens is causing problems and suggested that I used re-wetting drops. This time I got four week's wear.

A couple of days ago it got to that intolerable stage where I couldn't concentrate as there was this nagging ache. So I reverted to an old lens that is comfortable, but is covered in protein deposits so I'm not supposed to be wearing it. So I'll let the eye recover and increase the frequency of the rewetting drops.

Lia

[Andrew MacLean]

Burntheaction

Could this be non-kc related? Perhaps something irritating your trigeminal nerve?

[Sweet]

Hhmm this doesn't sound like something you will get with lens wear. I over wear my lenses a lot but only get aching eyes, a really bad headache and soreness. I would go and see your GP as well and tell him your symptoms as it could just be a coincidence?

Best of luck with it, love Claire X x X

[Lynn White]

Hello BurntheAction....

I recall talking to you about this last year, when I suggested that it was not related to your eyes and that you go and see your GP. This was because it did seem a bit unlikely, physiologically speaking, that discomfort in the eye would cause pins and needles to spread to the arm. However, a few more patients down the line, I have come across this in others as well and Lia's description also reflects what you say.

So let me ask a few questions:

Am I understanding you correctly when you say the numbness you are feeling is definitely related to lens wear? As in, you do not get this when the lens is out?

Does the sensation become worse during the day, or can it be full force as soon as you put it in?

Does lifting the lid away from the lens reduce the sensation at all?

Are you still only wearing a right lens?

Do you also get headaches when you get the numbness?

Does anything else happen, either visually or physically, when you get this sensation?

Lia.. this applies to you as well! I am very interested in trying to sort this kind of issue out.

Lynn

[Lia Williams]

Lynn,

In my case this is definitely associated with lens wear.

The offending lens (lens B) was comfortable when I first got it last November; after two and half weeks wear it started to become uncomfortable - thought I'd got something behind it and scratched the cornea. Wore an old Rose K lens (lens A) - which was comfortable (I never had any problem with comfort with the Rose K lenses) and assumed that the Rose K lens was not rubbing against the scratched/sore part of the cornea. I allowed the eye to recover and got another couple of weeks wear and the problem reoccurred. Stopped wearing the lens until a couple of weeks before my next appointment so that the hospital could see what was causing the problem. A new lens (lens C) of the same type was prescribed with different edges. The change to the edges unfortunately affected the effective prescription and meant that I could only read a number plate at 15 rather than 40 yrds. So whether or not this lens (lens C) would have had been comfortable after two of three weeks wear I don't know - the vision wasn't good enough to wear on a day-to-day basis - although I did wear it in the few days leading up to my appointment.

The next lens (lens D) was another Rose K - and this was another disaster - I could only read the number plate at 12 yds - but it wasn't acting as an underpowered lens as I couldn't read with it! I wore it to the next appointment and I understand that the cause of the poor vision was the lens rocking on the cornea causing bubbles to form underneath the lens.

As I liked the vision with lens B I asked the optometrist to have another look at it. She was unable to see why there was problem as the fit looked good. She called a colleague and he agreed. And the suggestion was to using rewetting drops regularly as there are some dry eye patches. I did use rewetting drops - but perhaps not as often as I should have/could have.

This time round the sensation appeared after about 25 days wear. It then increased gradually while wearing the lens - and decreased while not wearing the lens. The day I gave up on the lens I'd worn it for a couple of hours when I decided enough and swapped it back to lens A. Although the ache was still there the eye felt much better. Now three or four days later there is still a very small ache in the eye.

If I'd worn lens B any longer it would have become more uncomfortable (as if an eye lash had become trapped underneath). So my plan is to try again with lens B in a week or so and try to remember to use rewetting drops before I feel I need them. If this fails after a few weeks and I'll try again three weeks before my next appointment.

Headaches - the only headaches I get are on my forehead above my right eye. They occur about six hours after I've caught the glare of the sun. If I forget to wear my sunglasses when I go out of the office at lunchtime I'll get a headache at six o'clock which will last all evening. I've had this type of headache since I started wearing contact lenses in 75. I don't get these headaches very often as I live in my sunglasses in the summer - even when people tell me I can't possibly need them.

Lia

[Lynn White]

Thanks Lia...

I'll email you about this - its easier!

Lynn