Dry Eyes with Hard Lens

[Jonathan Evans]

Hi,

I am new to this website and apologise if this topic has been brought up before. I am a Keratoconus patient who is under the care of Moorfields. I have been using the hard lens for a few years now and am still finding that my eyes get extremely dry rather quickly. All of the eye drops that I have used have proved unhelpful. The only option so far has been to take both lenses out and re wet them with Boston solution. As I play lots of cricket I need to wear the lens for a long period of time.

Can anyone recoommend anything that would be likely to help? Supplements? Is this 'piggyback' lens a safe alternative as I was told there there were problems using this type of lens?

Many thanks,

Jonathan

[jayuk]

Hi

Give Systane a go......its a very good solution to use for lens placement and also dry eyes...

http://www.systane.co.uk/ for info

J

[GarethB]

Hospitals do not generally prescribe Systane for dry eyes, but the have tripled the wear time of my lenses and I only use it twice a day.

Piggy back lenses; many here swear by them. From the post I have seen, the key is to get a soft lens that has good oxygen transfer and I think dail disposables may be meeting this criteria.

Otehrs will give more info, but in the mean time slowly go through the subjects on the discussion board and you will strike lucky.

Regards

Gareth

[Asif]

Hello

I too am starting to suffer from dry eyes when wearing hard lenses.As mentioned try systane as it may help. As for playing sports I could not participate well with RGPs so I tried soft-perms. From my epxerience I felt they were better comfort wise especially during sports. Howecer they only make these in limited diamters. You may also want to give soft-perms a go if you havent already.

[rosemary johnson]

Hi Jonathan, and welcome to the group.
Do you get dry eyes problems in all types of conditions aand circumstances, or is it playing cricket in particular that gives problems?
If the latter, i can empathise, as I do a fair amount of standing round in fields and find my eyes can dry out rather - in my case it's called not "fielding" but "going tothe races".
Maybe a dumb-sounding question, but have you tried wearing glasses/goggles to keep the drying wind away?

I'm piggybacking (with daily disposables and RGP sclerals) but for me it doesn't do anything for drying out, but cushions the pressure from a close-fitting hard lens. If anything, they dry out more - the vision tends to "go" at the end of a day well before the confort, so they can still feel comfortable but I can't read a thing, rather like on a fresh breezy day come race 6 I can't read the form guide inthe Racing Post for love nor money.
But that's probably just me...
Rosemary

[Jonathan Evans]

Many thanks for the replies. I will go have a look at Systane today.

Rosemary - my eyes get very dry in all condtions. I was told at Moorfields that I have slightly dryer skin than most. In particular, they tend to be become very dry when around air conditioning systems at work and also on winding days during a cricket match since I tend to blink a lot. As for using glasses, this is not an option as they cannot improve my vision in my left eye although glasses are fine with the right. However my vision is very good with the hard lenses especially with my left eye.

My problem really just relates to the actual wearing time with a reasonable degree of comfort.

Jonathan

[GarethB]

To help when I am in fields at car shows, I wear my work safety glasses. They are better than sunglasses as they also keep wind from coming round the sides.

I think Rosemary was thinking along these lines, corneals to correct sight, glasses to keep wind out.

On the work front, air con drys my eyes too and I have found moving a couple feet further away from the air con duct has made a huge differance.

Gareth

[rosemary johnson]

Yes, Gareth's right. SOrry for confusion.
I eant unpowered glasses to keep out the wind, not to correct vision. I know the latter is a non-starter for people with KC and contacts.
As for the air con - agree entirely! I was in a job once, new air con installed, Moorfields next day, moved out to a Portakabin the following week.
Have you talked to your employer about the problem the air con causes? If not, can you?
your employer has obligation to do what they can to sort out such problems - as KC is a condition that's not going to go away within 12 months (!) you come under the provisions of the DDA.
Of course, one hopes your employer would be able to do something to help without having to quote laws to them.
Rosemary

[Rob Armstrong]

Got a Screwfix Direct catalogue today and noticed when flicking through it a page on safety eyewear.

They've got a few different wraparound sunglasses type of safety glasses with various coatings etc.

Seem reasonable too, not a pair over £12.99

I remember some people asking recently about suitable sunglasses so thought this might be useful.

Rob.

PS its http://www.screwfix.com to save you Googling for it.

[Jonathan Evans]

Hi Rosemary

When playing cricket, I do use a pair of Oakley sunglasses which slightly wrap around the side of each eye. On that front, I am quite happy with this particular type of sunglasses.

With regard to the air conditioning problem, I have not spoken to my employer. I think this will be a problem that I will face in which ever office environment I work. For me, by taking out the lens every few hours and rewetting it seems to be an adequate solution. Since no local retailers stock Systane, I have just ordered it from a local chemist. Fingers crossed. I shall let you know how I get on with the drops.

Many thanks for the advice.

Jon.