Overwhelmed newbie!

[Lia Williams]

Cherry,

You might like to be attend the KC Group Conference in Manchester which is on Saturday 15th June,

http://www.keratoconus-group.org.uk/eve ... rence.html

The programme includes talks from professionals on contact lenses and surgical options for KC.

Also there will be plenty of opportunity to talk to others about how they cope with contact lenses etc. I found this really useful went I went to the conference in London in 2011. I'm planning to go to Manchester - even if it does mean a very early start from Surrey.

Lia

[Steven Williams]

I have also been told I have dry eye, and allergies in both eyes, which concerns me about wearing contacts

If your optom/consultant told you this and they are commencing contact lens fitting without first addressing/resolving this that sets the alarm bells ringing for me.

You can use man made expensive drug company applications full of chemicals but this is only treating the effect and not the cause. If you do use eye drops ensure that they are preservative free otherwise you will get crystal deposits on your cornea caused that the heat generated as the lens rubs on the areas of your conical conical cornea not covered by the solution, as I did. The systane was provided by the NHS eye where I attend.

Punctal plugs in your tear ducts are an option.

Good, preferably natural lubrication, of the eye is essential for the comfort and good vision with rgp lenses.

Scleral/semi scleral lenses will give you the best comfort and vision as they sit on pool of solution. Problem though is they are one of the most expensive lenses and imo the NHS eye hospitals will not offer it to you except Moorfields in London where Ken Pullum the lens designer and specialist KC lens fitter designed them using his vast experience. Regarding the soft lenses such as kerasoft they re never mentionedat NHS eye hospitals again I suspect because of cost and the decisions they make concerning which lens supplier salespeople to do business with.( It would be interesting to know what Lynn White has to say on this issue)

[munster]

My lens fitter gave me Alomide for my eyes. I take 1 drop morning and night.

Its not for use with CLs, but I can wait 10mins before inserting my CLs.

My tear film is not too good, and has a high mucus content than water.

Alomide is an allergy eye drop.

[Cherry]

If I mention my allergies and dry eye to the optometrist in the contact lens clinic will they be able to help me? Can they prescribe drops etc? I am a bit unfamiliar with what different peoples roles are in all this, like the ophthalmologist and the optometrist? are they both doctors?

[munster]

If I mention my allergies and dry eye to the optometrist in the contact lens clinic will they be able to help me? Can they prescribe drops etc? I am a bit unfamiliar with what different peoples roles are in all this, like the ophthalmologist and the optometrist? are they both doctors?

Ophthalmologist is the surgical side of eyes, and diagnoses of eye problems,
Optometrist is the non surgical side, contacts and glasses.

Both can prescribe drops for various eye conditions.

I would deffo tell the optometrist about your allergies and dry eye. It will affect the contact lens wear and comfort. They can use a yellow dye to see the dry patches and how the tear film spreads across your eye.

[Cherry]

Brilliant, thank you Munster I will def do that. I phoned hospital today to see why I've not received my lens appointment through yet and they hadn't even got a referral for me for that clinic, doh! So I'm off to a good start, I can see this becoming a but of a 'mare!

[Nickysells1]

Which hospital are you bring referred to cherry?


I live in north lincs and are assigned to st James in Leeds for various complicated reasons. There is a good new eye hospital in hull too though

[Cherry]

Hiya, I'm going to Doncaster Royal Infirmary, I don't really know much about their ophthalmic services, but my consultant did say that I may need to be referred to Sheffield for corneal topography as they don't do it at DRI.

[Steven Williams]

Can anyone tell me what will happen at my hospital contact lens clinic appointment? I know this is probably a silly question, but I'm interested to know long it takes and what they will do.

Cherry your KFC journey is just starting. I was at were you are now, in my final year at University, 30 years ago, no internet, no self help or support network..

I cannot tell you what will happen but I can speculate. You will need patience, waiting times at the hospital are usually long rarely do they keep to the appointment times and often over 1 hour. Be assertive ask the questions if you find they dont take the lead in providing an overall management of your condition.

Taking regular records of the topography of the KC n both your eyes is essential and the info should help the optom with deciding that glasses are no longer an option and achieving a good contact lens fit. This will also provide a record of the progression of your KC with k values, to enable you to understand what stage your KC is at mild, moderate or severe.

You will have to pay over a hundred quid for your lenses, establish that if they are unsuitable you will be provided with a refund or be provided with another set foc. I have paid over 300 quid for rgp lenses and never been able to wear them beyond a short period of time.

When they get to the stage were they are ready to send off an order for your contact lenses ask them how it is possible to be able to identify the left and right lens if you get them mixed up .If they offer no practical solution for this, ask them to put on the order- tint the right lens edge gRey colour and bLue for the left lens.

Register with an eye hospital that does topography dont bother with Doncaster if they dont have up to date equipment for KC patients.

Keep us informed of your progress be interesting to read about your experience

[Lia Williams]

I agree with Steven that it is very important to know which is lens is which. It's best to develop a good habit from day one - always seeing the the right lens first. Sometimes although the prescriptions can be very different you may be able to see just as well with the lenses in the wrong eyes but only find out when the eyes become sore a few days later.

I used to have my lenses marked with an R and an L. This worked well with the old hard lenses but the marks were harder to see on the RGPs and almost impossible after the lenses had been repolished. I now have one dot on the right and two on the left and this means that it is easy to check that I have the lenses the right way round. I did once have lenses with different tints but someone said they'd never noticed before but my eyes were different colours!

Lia