RGP Lense problems - Help

Hello Doctors and my fellow patients,

I have been wearing soft contact lenses for 10years, As i have very high Myopia ( -18 ) i never had 20/20 vision. But recently when I went to get new contacts at New England Hospital they tried RGP lenses and the vision is great. Now i have almost 20/20 vision. But the problem is i have been wearing these lenses for 4 weeks now and i cannot tolerate these lenses after 3-4hrs of wear time. My eyes would become red and i could feel them constantly. I could see red nerves around my eye ball but when i remove RGP and wear soft lenses it is fine.
Can you please tell me what could be the problem.
PS: can you also describe what does it mean by :- making RGP lenses flatter. My Dr. kept using this word which i did not understand.

Thanks
Kris

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

RPG lens are thicker than soft lens. This often gives better vision but less comfort since not as much oxygen gets through a RPG compared with soft CTL.

Fitting a RPG flatter means the lens are reground with a less steep base curve. They will try and fit a RPG that give you good vision but that you can wear longer and won't make your eyes red.

JCH MD

[krishnaB]

Thanks a lot for your response. But I heard that RGP lenses allow more oxygen to pass through when compared to soft lenses?

stupid Q but i anyway want to ask you Dr. Do people wear RGP lenses with such high reading(-18), In your history did you find anyone who is wearing and kinda happy.

I am also looking for 1.9 high index glasses. Do we have these in US?

Do weight training in the gym cause any problem to my eyes?

Thanks
Kris

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

I believe you are misinformed on the  RGP that's why some soft CTL are approved for continuous wear for a month while RGP are not.

Yes there is nothing about your RX -18 that would preclude wearing RGP most of your waking hours. There may be somehting about your cornea (sensitivity, dryness, allergy, shape, etc) that would not allow you to do so.

I'm not an optician so I don't know for sure. high index lens are available in the USA.

No weight training is fine.

JCH MD

[krishnaB]

Thanks a lot for taking sometime to answer my Q's. What you doing in this forum is such a good hope for millions.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Yes thanks. We are on course to have 3 million visits to the two American Academy of Ophthalmology eye care forms this year.

JCH MD