Anyone Not Able to Wear Contact Lenses?

[AirlineDreams]

Hi folks, greetings from USA. I'm 32 with moderate keratoconus. I am 20/300 uncorrected and 20/25 corrected in glasses. I wanted to get 20/20 so I went for a hard lens fitting, but I cannot see with the contacts because of a lazy eye. So contacts do not work for me, that means the best corrected vision I'll ever have is in glasses.

Does anyone have any experience with finding the optimal spectacle fit? Better with / without transitions? Better with / without polarization? Other things? Big lenses vs small lenses? Any experience anyone is willing to share on finding the best corrected vision with glasses is greatly welcome.

Thank you kindly and warmest wishes.

[Lia Williams]

Hi AirlineDreams,

Welcome to the forum.

I'm sorry I don't know anything about a lazy eye and keratoconus and why that makes contact lens wear problem.

However as far as glasses are concerned most people with keratoconus have high -ve prescriptions which means that a small frame is preferable. High index lenses are also be beneficial as it minimises edge thickness. Do ask your dispensing optician for advice as they should be able to suggest suitable frames for your prescription.

Lia

[Mousework]

I had very similar experience with my right eye, it was to too sensitive wear, but left eye was able to wear contact lenses for a short while before it went. it took 12 months of investigation from three different eye departments to discover I had RCD. This was the underlining cause of the problem, It really depends on whether your doctor is willing to investigate the matter further

[GarethB]

I can't wear rigid contact lenses as I became sensitised to them, but soft lenses for KC are no problem at all, I wear them all day, every day all year round.

There are such a variety of lenses and solutions available, it is extremely rare to find someone who is ubale to wear contact lenses now.

[AirlineDreams]

Hi Folks, turned out that the doc didn't "align" them properly, so now a different provider has fitted me and I am waiting for the trial lenses to come in.

How are folks coming along with their RGP lenses? Has anyone found lenses that completely reduce ghosting and halos?

Best wishes to all.

[CrippsCorner]

I don't think you're ever going to get that unfortunately.

I've gone from Kerasoft to RGP's and now a few different toric lenses. For me and my 'moderate' keratoconus vision is comparable between them all really, so I'm not continuing with RGP's because they're so uncomfortable. I have to admit I had a bit of a down day yesterday with the frustrations of ghosting/halos would love to hear from anyone that has actually managed to reduce them...

[munster]

You might be able to reduce ghosting or glare with contacts, depending on how bad your KC is. Generally, the answer is no as its within the cornea that the ghosting or glare occurs. Corneal grafting is the only way, by eliminating the visual distortion at its source.

[Lia Williams]

How are folks coming along with their RGP lenses? Has anyone found lenses that completely reduce ghosting and halos?

I have had lenses for my right eye where although I could read the 6/6 line the ghosting meant that in real life the vision seemed less than this, especially as the vision varied as I blinked, but with two eyes together I found that my brain could ignore the ghosting.

I have now have a pair of RGP lenses, which I piggyback, where the ghosting is minimal - I really don't notice it. But it took a long time to find a lens to reduce this ghosting in my right eye.

I hope that your trial lenses work for you. Lens fitting is a long and frustrating process so don't be surprised if the first set of lenses aren't perfect, a few adjustments may be needed to the prescription to optimise vision and comfort.

Lia

[Grant]

Likewise I find piggyback RGPs do a good job for me in reducing ghosting. It does vary through the day though - I've found taking both lenses out and rinsing them in the afternoon helps if I have a long day planned.

[GarethB]

This was being discussed on another thread and over the weekend I really pushed friends and relatives to describe in detail their visin and to my surprise a number of them who wear glasses, contacts instead of glasses and those with 'normal' vision to soem extent under certain conditions see streaks and halos. A discussion with an optom who has recently had a cataract operation asked how I coped with seeing detail all the time and the conclusion we came to is that because we have an eye problem we are acutely aware of anything like halos and streaks. Those who don't have these issues can tune them out and I think that is why as I have become confident in my Kerasoft lenses I don't notice these defects in vision as mucha s I once did, only really when I change lens prescriptions.

To me this was reinforced after spending the day in a work environment where I had to wear hearing protection all morning and it blocked out all noise, so all you heard was your own heartbeat and breathing that naturally resonates through your body. When I was back in the normal work environment everything was loud, it was hard to focus on what one person was saying because of all the background noise from airconditioning. After about an hour all was normal again I I was able to focus my hearing so I was only hearing what the person I was meeting was saying.

For some the problems will always be there but I think for many of us we can adapt so that when we see things we see only the important things, this I know is hard to do because we do need to be aware of when our vision does change so a balance has to be struck somewhere.