No more contacts for me?

[Shoppingmommy1976]

My doctor told me that I over-wore my contact and am now unable to wear contacts.  I have always worn soft lens that I took out at night and changed monthly (I DID, however, wear then about 14 hours a day).  originally, back in December I was told that I had protein deposits on my eyelids.  I went without ANY contacts AT ALL for 5 1/2 months.  Now, here it is August and I am being told that I can't wear contacts again until December AT LEAST (but more than likely never again).  I can't see well out of my glasses, but the dr wants me to keep wearing these because my vision will come back eventually through the use of steroid drops 4 times a day.  Can you tell me if this sounds like a reasonable diagnosis?  I felt as though the dr (who is an associate of the doc I usually see) was a bit of an alarmist.  I have never heard of contact overuse causing someone to NEVER be able to wear contacts again.  She also said I would never likely be a candidate for Lasik because of the scarring?  Please help me...I am driving with 3 children in the car on a regular basis and I can't even read the road signs.  My prescription on the end of the contact box is -8.5 and the vision in my right eye is SUBSTANTIALLY worse than that.  

[indi1664]

Hi,
     Seems you have not been fully informed...Depending on exact problem...
contact lens overwear can be extremely harmful...I was -20 and for early part of life i wore for upto 16hrs /day....On eyetest we found i had severe blood vessel growth ..due to overwear...I didnt feel any negative symptoms ...so never realised...however optician pointed out if i carried on this pattern of wear ...I would go BLIND...i than went to 5hrs and built upto 8 hrs ...blood vessel growth recedded and eyes were normal again...since than wore for abt 8 hrs and atlast no lenses for one day in week...if I
nedded to wear longer than 8hrs ...took a break for 1-2 hrs and than rewear for another 5-6 hrs...  

Check with another optician..whilst your current diagnosis maybe exagerrated...there is some truth there.

Might find after few months you can go back to contacts ....but you must get good advice on this...also try and get the highest Oxygen content lenses available...

I recently had IOL implants and am now +0.75 and -1...

Good Luck

[Sandy Feldman, MD, MS]

Dear ShoppingMommy1976,

I would recommend that you see an eyeMD and have your questions answered.  You can go to the AAO.org www site to find an eyeMD.  It is difficult to assess what the diagnosis is from your description.  Sometimes, people develop giant papillary conjunctivitis and do have difficulty wearing contact lenses again; however, often we will try to have you institute wear slowly.  Also, what type of scarring do you have?  I would also recommend you obtain an updated glass prescription so that you can drive effectively.

Dr. Feldman

Sandy T. Feldman, M.D., M.S.
ClearView Eye and Laser Medical Center
San Diego, California