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Medical Forum / General / Vision / August 2006Contact Lens Fitting - 3 months so far (astigmatism)
Hello, My wife has astigmatism in one eye and it has already been about 3 months of weekly visits trying different contacts, and she is still unable to obtain a good fit. I was wondering if after 3 months, many of you would consider giving up? The doctor we are going to is a bit far away (recommended by a friend), and weekly trips are starting to wear on us (we thought we'd go there a total of 3 times at most, and we have gone about a dozen times now). Based on the lack of progress (this week, her lenses were the worst she has tried...), we are thinking that this could go on for many more months. Due to the long distance, we are considering going to a closer doctor. We also wonder whether we'll get better luck with a different doctor. On the other hand, we wonder whether she should give up on wearing contacts? I'd be interested in hearing any thoughts on the difficulty of obtaining contacts for astigmatism, and what we might expect going forward. Thank you very much for any thoughts. If your doctor has seen you almost weekly for 3 months, I'd be very impressed at his patience. My experience so far has been that I apparently become a "problem patient" after returning more than once or twice. In any case, I feel your pain, since I too am trying to get contacts to work for astigmatism. I started with RGP's (rigid gas permeable) contacts, and I can tell you that the vision is great with them. They are not as comfortable as soft contacts, and they take a few weeks to get used to. My problems have been subtle things like glare from bright lights, and a some strange night vision effects, but I think everyone is different. It's definitely worth considering. > Hello, > My wife has astigmatism in one eye and it has already been about 3 [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > obtaining contacts for astigmatism, and what we might expect going > forward. Thank you very much for any thoughts. -- Why dont you try glasses? Charles is much happier with glasses but his vanity makes him put up with contacts which are both uncomfortable and dont give as good vision. Why dont you try glasses? Charles is much happier with glasses but his vanity makes him put up with contacts which are both uncomfortable and dont give as good vision. Why dont you try glasses? Charles is much happier with glasses but his vanity makes him put up with contacts which are both uncomfortable and dont give as good vision. > Why dont you try glasses? Charles is much happier with glasses but his > vanity makes him put up with contacts which are both uncomfortable and > dont give as good vision. Ignore Ace. Vision with contacts is superior to glasses - in my case. I never really got used to the distortion effects of cylinder correction, but these are not apparent with contacts. -- > Hello, > My wife has astigmatism in one eye and it has already been about 3 [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > obtaining contacts for astigmatism, and what we might expect going > forward. Thank you very much for any thoughts. Torics (astigmatic) soft cl's can really be a hot or miss situation. Sometimes the initial trial lenses will provide great fit and vision and other times, after trying 2 or 3 different designs, the patient still has problems. At times, because of the actual prescription or how the corneal topography is, it may not be possible to achieve a "perfect fit" vision-wise. Without knowing the the prescription of your spouse or what has been tried, it's impossible to give specific advice. It's tough to start over but you may want to think about it. Getting a fresh perspective from another provider may do the job. And trying a rigid gas perms (although there are trade-offs) can be another option. frank > Torics (astigmatic) soft cl's can really be a hot or miss > situation. Sometimes the initial trial lenses will provide [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > frank Thank you to everyone for the responses. I will ask the eye doctor about rigid gas perms... i've heard good things about them. Yea, i guess it is difficult to really know what to do, but after 3 months (especially with the distance involved), we are really getting anxious to get this done. She does have glasses and they work great. But she does enjoy wearing contact lenses. She bought some overseas, that were not intended for astigmatism, but we are unable to use that expired prescription (plus we hope that we can get better contacts for her). Thanks again for the responses. > Thank you to everyone for the responses. I will ask the eye doctor > about rigid gas perms... i've heard good things about them. Yea, i > guess it is difficult to really know what to do, but after 3 months > (especially with the distance involved), we are really getting anxious > to get this done. I had at least 15 approintments spanning a year, and I still have only one pair of 3-month lenses (out of 5 pair) that I actually find wearable. 3 months is NOTHING!  SignatureCheers, Bev ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Tell him that the government will give him lots of fish and he will vote for you forever. When he doesn't get any fish, blame the other guys." --A Taxpayer > > Thank you to everyone for the responses. I will ask the eye doctor > > about rigid gas perms... i've heard good things about them. Yea, i [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > one pair of 3-month lenses (out of 5 pair) that I actually find > wearable. 3 months is NOTHING! Dear Bev (and I mean that!), Someone has to be in the 10-15% of potential contact lens wearers that just don't work out so well, or not at all. Someone. It's a numbers game. I do so wish you could be in the much larger subgroup of delighted wearers! And perhaps one day soon the right combo of design and material will find it's way onto your deserving eyes. And to the original poster: trust me on this: it's also a disappointment for us practitioners when we can't please you folks quickly and conveniently. We try. It's in our best interests to get it right ASAP, you know. LB, O.D. (still waiting for MY perfect lens, BTW. I hear it may be out in two weeks! Of course I've heard that before ;-( sometimes it can be difficult to fit a particular patient with soft torics. but in general i think they are more likely to be acceptable to patients comfort-wise than RGPs. regardless RGPs are worth a try if soft lenses don't work out readily. sometimes its just important to communicate straightforwardly with the doctor about what your desires and disappointments are. if I were you i would honestly talk to the first doctor about your disappointments in the repeated visits, and failing that then visit a second doctor and tell him your story/interests to give it one more chance in the hand of a different guy. tell him/her you are on the verge of quitting on contacts but you want to give it one final best chance and not draw it out for a long time and spend a lot of money. if i were your doctor I would get you a couple of pairs of good quality trial soft torics to compare at home (no charge for the lenses) and then have you follow-up with me for a quicky check appointment after 2-3 weeks wearing your best-choice pair of trial lenses. after that I might tweak it a time or two more (again, the lenses are free) and/or try a pair of gas perm lenses depending upon your results with the soft disposables and whether we both think the situation seems promising. after one more follow-up appointment I think we could be on pretty sure footing with regards to getting a successful fit or knowing whether we had a chance of being successful at all. i find you can quickly cut to a final decision and avoid a bunch of trips if you and the doctor get together on the same page about your wishes and just communicate well. some patients are harder to fit than others, and some patients expect something better than you can give them. ================== > > Torics (astigmatic) soft cl's can really be a hot or miss > > situation. Sometimes the initial trial lenses will provide [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > > Thanks again for the responses. > sometimes it can be difficult to fit a particular patient with soft > torics. but in general i think they are more likely to be acceptable [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > others, and some patients expect something better than you can give > them. Thanks, that makes sense. And also, thanks to Larry Doc for the insight. I understand the difficulty it must be for practitioners as well. Actually, my wife has been happy with some of the previous pairs she wore, but we've left it to the doctor to decide what's best. We'll probably go back one more time, and if the next pair doesn't work, we will probably go to a closer doctor. Thanks again for the input.
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