Welcome Madmish,
There is a wide variety of lenses available and I think most specialists start with what they feel is best.
This site does list all the different type of lenses which is far better situation than 20 years ago when I was first diagnosed when only one type of RGP lens was freely available and those did hurt. Now the good news, I think the most common type of RGP is the Rose K type.
http://www.roseklens.com
These for me are very comfortable and by following exactly what the specialist has said and sharing problems here I have developed what is a good copeing statergy for me whereby I can wear the lenses on a good day for 12 hours.
I started at 2 hours which was uncomfortable, but remember it is not natural to put things in your eyes. On the first day, after about 1 - 1 1/2 hours the lenses got more comfrtable, but I still took them out after 2 hours and built up an hour a day to a maximum of 8 hours. Then with discussions on this site I started to wear the lenses for 9 hours for a week or so. The longere wear time is in my opinion done over a longer period. What I would say though is that if you feel you are not aclimatising well to the lenses tell the doctor, they will probably see you within 4 weeks of you getting your lenses anyway to make sure you are happy. Mine would not let me have mine until I could show I could manage them properly. Being stubborn and desperate to see again I made sure I could get it right first time so I could leave with the lenses.
Unfortunatly with KC, no two cases are alike which is why it important to share experiences so as a group we can help each other and help the doctors.
As far as declaring KC on medical forms is a grey area as osme organisations recognise the condition as a disability and other not. My car insurance consider my lenses to be just like people who chose not to wear glasses due to vanity and my policy has not changed. As far as work goes I have always declared the condition and only six months ago did it become an issue, but now new copeing stategies are in place, lenses or not means I can do 75% of my work. It is only the laboratory work I will not do without lenses in.
From my experience, RGP lenses of one form or another are the perfect solution. When you look at the medical statisitics (some I think are in the first confrence notes which might still be available if you join the group, see the homepage for details) but the proportion of KC people needing surgery is very low indeed and is not necessary to have quite so early on due to the new types of lenses available.
Good luck and keep us all posted on your progress.
Regards
Gareth
P.S Took my now wife to see Beatiful South in confence at Wembly Arena and were very diasappointed in the whole performance.

Sorry.
Still a staunch Alice Cooper fan
